Another gene for baldness
Two groups of scientists, from the UK and Germany, independently discovered a new gene that contributes to the development of male pattern baldness. With a combination of both currently known genetic causes of baldness, the risk of this condition increases sevenfold, the journal Nature Genetics reports.
Scientists from the Universities of Bonn and Dusseldorf studied more than 500 thousand sections of the human genome in 300 men with severe baldness. As a result, on chromosome 20, they were able to detect a gene that promotes early hair loss. This gene can be transmitted both on the maternal and paternal side. Early hair loss in father and son can be explained by the influence of this factor, according to the head of the study Axel Hillmer (Axel Hillmer).
In 2005, the same group of researchers described another baldness gene located on the X chromosome and transmitted only through the maternal line. The carriage of this gene encoding the structure of the androgen receptor is the most likely cause of early hair loss in a grandson and his maternal grandfather, scientists believe.
Scientists from King's College London and McGill University (Montreal, Canada) came to similar conclusions. In the study of the genome of five thousand white men, they managed to find two genetic variants located on chromosome 20, which are a risk factor for male pattern baldness. Carriers of unfavorable gene variants located on chromosome 20, as well as on the X chromosome, have a seven-fold risk of developing baldness before the age of 50. According to the head of the study, Tim Spector, about 14% of white men have such heredity.
New data obtained by scientists may lead to the creation of diagnostic tests to identify men predisposed to early baldness. People with unfavorable heredity will be able to take preventive measures to reduce the risk of hair loss at a young age.
Sources: Important New Hair-loss Gene Discovered and
Baldness Gene Discovered: 1 In 7 Men At Risk, Science Daily, 12.10.2008
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