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Thesun 2009-01-05 Page14 Gene Link To Rare Cause of Baldness
Thesun 2009-01-05 Page14 Gene Link To Rare Cause of Baldness
S. Lanka
separatist
conflict
far from
over, say
Gene link to rare cause of baldness
PARIS: Scientists say they have pinned
down a DNA mechanism that gives rise
Children with MUHH have sparse
or no hair at birth, followed by wiry or
kind of mini-protein – that in turn affects
a previously-identified protein called the
follicles and thus greater likelihood of this
kind of baldness.
analysts to a rare but distressing form of baldness coarse hair in childhood but progressively human hairless monolog, or HR, which The study, published online yesterday
pg 16 that strikes before adulthood. lose it at puberty. is crucial for the regeneration of hair in the journal Nature Genetics, offers
Flaws in a gene called U2HR are to Researchers led by Xue Zhang of the follicles. a potential target for drugs that would
blame for a condition called Maria Unna Peking Union Medical College in Beijing Sifting through the genome of 19 Chi- block this pathway, offering the hope that
hereditary hypotrichosis, or MUHH, found that U2HR, located on Chromosome nese families with a history of MUHH, youngsters who inherit the mutations will
named after the German trichologist who 8, acts as a key switch in the process. the team found mutations of U2HR led to one day keep their hair, say the authors.
identified the problem. U2HR controls a small peptide – a increased levels of HR, the death of hair – AFP