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HELP SUPPORT RESEARCH TO FIND A CURE
FOR GENETIC BALDNESS
1. Facts and studies about the "hairloss" problem
A lot of academic
studies prove, that hairloss is a serious problem und shouldn´t
be described as not dangerous. For example in 1999 Dr. Sawaya
introduced a study at the congress of the American Academy
of Dermatology, that showed, that men with hairloss have a
up to 7-time higher risk to develop psychological problems
(e.g. depressions). A similar study could show, that women
in comparison to men develop an even worse feeling about their
body. A current survey of the German Green Cross showed, that
32% of German men and 57% of German women are terrified about
their hairloss und every third is looking for therapeutic
help.
Hairloss doesn´t
only affect the psychological health of affected persons,
but can also result in serious social disadvantages. An EMNID-study
prove, that men with few hair are considered significantly
less sexually attractive than men with full hair. Another
EMNID-study even showed, that men with full hair have better
chances to get a job than bald men.
2. The insufficiency of current therapy methods
Currently there are only
two approved medications against male pattern baldness (Regaine
with the active substance minoxidil and Propecia with the
active substance finasteride), some therapeutic methods against
alopecia areata and some unspecific drugs against androgenetic
alopecia in women. But these therapies all have serious disadvantages.
First of all they are not able to regrow hair significantly.
Only very few hair can be regrown, except some spontaneous
healing in few alopecia areata patients. The drugs have to
be taken the whole life long, they are very expensive and
they can have side-effects, e.g. Finasterid can lower libido
and Minoxidil can affect blood pressure. About 20-40% of the
minoxidil users and about 15% of the finasteride users don´t
have any success at all. Additionally the drugs sometimes
cause shedding phases, during which the patients loose very
much hair. In some patients this additional hairloss is permanent.
Women with androgenetic alopecia sometimes profit from the
use of special anti-baby pills (like e.g. Diane). But these
anti-baby pills also have serious side-effects and there is
only minimal regrowth. They have to be taken lifelong, too.
Alopecia areata is usually treated by some form of topical
immune therapy. Some alopecia areata patients report results
by acupuncture. But a complete cure is very rare. The safety
and efficiency of all the other pills and lotions hasn´t been
tested sufficiently in contolled clinical trials.
3. Gene therapy as the method of the future
Gene therapy will
be able to offer a real cure for hairloss and other hair problems.
Gene therapy has the potential to cure all sorts of hairloss
permanently with minimal side-effects – probably even
side-effect free. Gene therapy will be able to regrow hair
significantly.
3.1. The principle of gene therapy
First the principle
of gene therapy shall be described in general. Nearly all
human diseases, like cancer, alzheimer, arthritis, cardiovascular
diseases and of course hairloss, have genetic causes. In the
1980s animal studies prove, that the disease-causing genes
can be cured by therapeutic genes. This is called gene therapy.
A gene therapy cures the real cause of the disease (the disease-causing
gene). Current drugs often only treat the symptoms of the
illness and have serious side-effects, as they are not specific
enough. The first human gene therapy was done in 1990. Up
to now more than 5000 people were treated by gene therapy
in clinical studies, mostly against cancer and AIDS. The principle
is always similar. The therapeutic gene is delivered to the
desired body cells (e.g. the cancer cells or the liver cells)
by a „gene taxi“ – the so-called gene vector.
The biggest problem of all gene therapies is the delivery
problem of the therapeutic gene. That means, how can the new
genes be transported most effectively without side-effects?
Current studies often use disabled viruses (like the virus
of the common cold) or liposomes (fat droplets). Thousands
of researchers are working hard to find the perfect gene vector,
e.g. they try to combine viruses and liposomes, try to deliver
naked DNA without a gene vector and so on. And indeed there
are first groundbreaking results in human clinical trials.
In May 2000 the French researcher Dr. Alain Fischer (Neckar
Hospital Paris) published, that he was able to cure a severe
immune disease named SCID in several children without side-effects.
Children with this disease usually die within 2 or 3 years
after birth without treatment. US researchers were able to
grow new blood vessels to the heart by using a growth factor
gene. Also a gene therapy against haemophilia A showed good
results (http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/03/01/goodgene.therapy)
and there are several genetherapeutic studies against various
forms of cancer, that improve current therapeutic options
(http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/08/04/your.health.cancer/index.html)
. In 1999 researchers were able to repair a genetic defect
permanently in an animal model (http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/genetics/therapy/lhgec017.htm)
Human trials shall start in fall or winter 2000. Obviously
gene therapy starts to fullfil ist promisses. It should be
added, that the new genes don´t influence the germline or
the sperms.
3.2. Gene therapy to cure all sorts of hairloss
Researchers already
found some genes, that influence the hair cycle and hair growth.
In 1998 Dr. Christiano (Columbia University) found the hairless-gene,
that is responsible for a rare form of hairloss. Some time
later she published the finding of the nude-gene, another
gene, that influences the hair cycle. In 1999 Dr. Crystal
(Cornell University) showed, that the sonic-gene can reactivate
inavtive hair follicles in mice. This is important, as inactive
human hair follicles can be reactivated about 10-15 years
after they stopped producing hair. So it will be possible
to restore the hair, that you had 10-15 years ago with this
method. Nevertheless the sonic-gene may increase the activity
of oncogenes (genes, that cause cancer), so it probably won´t
be used in humans. Other genes have to be found, that also
reactivate inactive hair follicles, but don´t have side-effects
(so-called trigger genes).
It will even be possible
to create completely new hair follicles by using gene therapy.
In 1998 Prof. Elaine Fuchs (Howard Hughes Medical Institute
http://www.hhmi.org)
published, that the molecule ß-catenin can create new hair
follicles in mice. This process is quite complicated, so more
research is needed, before human studies can be done. But
then even totally bald people can get full hair again.
More information
about the research of Prof. Fuchs can be found e.g.
http://www.hhmi.org/fuchs
http://www.hairlosshelp.com/html/elainefuchs.htm
As it was already
said, gene therapy will be able to cure all sorts of hairloss,
like alopecia universalis, alopecia areata and of course hereditary
hairloss (androgenetic alopecia) in men and women, as the
principle is always the same or similar: The therapeutic gene
is delivered highly selevtively to the hair follicles by a
gene vector.
There are no problems
in principle with gene therapy. The existing delivery methods
must be improved and the perfect trigger gene (a gene, that
reactivates hair follicles) must be found.
3.3. Gene therapy
to cure other hair problems
Gene therapy will also cure
other hair problems like e.g. the graying of hair. The American
biotech firm AntiCancer Inc. showed in 1995, that they can
deliver melanin and test genes to the hair follicles by using
liposomes as gene vectors. It is known, that the tyrosinase-gene
colours hair. According to some press articles AntiCancer
Inc. are also researching gene therapy to make hair curly
permanently.
4. Support of genetic research
So gene therapy has
the potential to cure hair problems effectively, permanently
and without side-effects. When this will happen, mainly depends
on the amount of money, that is invested in genetic hair research.
The more money the researchers have, the sooner there will
be the cure. Especially genetic researchers depend very much
on high-tech equipment. The biotech firm Celera Genomics (http://www.celera.com)
was able to sequence the Human Genome in less than 2 years
with their supercomputers. The public Human Genome Project
, that didn´t have the computer power of Celera Genomics,
needed more than 10 years to do the same project. This is
also true for genetic baldness research. If the researchers
can use the latest gene chips, supercomputers and software
programs, results will come much sooner. But these high-tech
equipments are expensive.
So we want to encourage
everybody to donate directly to the leading genetic hair researchers.
Every donation is needed, also the small ones (e.g. 50 dollars
can be donated by nearly everybody). If the researchers have
enough money, clinical studies to cure hairloss and other
hair problems are realistic until 2003-2005, perhaps even
sooner.
5. Concrete possibilities to support genetherapeutic
baldness research
5.1. Donations to researchers
It is possible to
donate directly to some of the leading hair gene researchers.
The donation addresses and the research main points shall
be introduced. Donations to most of these researchers are
tax deductible, that means you will get back a part of
the money! The researchers are intoduced in alpahabetical
order. They research different aspects and use different methods,
that supplement each other. The donations should be distributed
as equally as possible. This can be coordinated in the "Gene
therapy" forum.
US-Researchers:
- Dr. Christiano (Columbia University New York): Dr. Christiano already found two genes,
that influence the hair cycle. She is doing animal studies
with the hairless-gene to remove unwanted hair by gene therapy.
She also wants to find the genes, that are responsible for
androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata. She thinks, that
clinical trials to cure alopecia are realistic until 2003-2005,
if she has 750.000 US dollars annually for research.
It is possible to donate
to the dermatological institute of the Columbia University.
The donations will be given to Dr. Christiano. Donations can
only be made by check. Donations are tax-deductibale. You
should write a note on the check, that the money is for the
gene therapy program of Dr. Christiano.
The address for donations to Dr. Christiano is:
Department of Dermatology
Basic Science Research Group
630 West 168th St, VC 15-1526
New York, NY 10032
ATTN: Cathy Donovan
More information about the research of Dr. Christiano
can be found e.g. at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol23/vol23_iss14/13.html
http://www.hairlosshelp.com/html/angelachristiano.htm
- Dr. Cotsarelis (University of Pennsylvania). Dr. Cotsarelis is also researching delivery
methods for therapeutic genes. But even more important is
his research about hair follicle stem cells. Only if the
therapeutic genes reach the hair follicle stem cells, a
permanent cure is possible. If the therapeutic genes don´t
reach the hair follicle stem cells, also a gene therapy
must be repeated regularly. So this is very important research.
It is possible to support Dr. Cotsarelis by
check or by money transfer
The address for a donation by check is:
George Cotsarelis, M.D.
M8 Stellar-Chance Laboratories
422 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
The address for a donation by money transfer is:
Mellon Bank (East)
ABA# 031000037
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
For Credit to: The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Account # 2-523-694
Attn: Dr. George Cotsarelis, Dermatology Department
SWIFT CODE: MELNUS 3P
More information about the research of Dr. Cotsarelis
can be found e.g. at
http://www.hairsite.com/library/abst-88.htm
- Dr. Hoffman (AntiCancer Inc.): The researchers of AntiCancer Inc.
can be called the pioneers of hair gene research. They showed
already in 1995, that it is possible to deliver genes highly
selectively to the hair follicles. Currently they are doing
very interesting animal studies to cure gray hair by gene
therapy. The gene, that is responsible for hair colour,
is already known. If the researchers succeed to colour 100%
of the hair follicle cells with their gene therapy, this
is also a big step towards finding a cure for hairloss.
As it was already said, the delivery problem is the major
problem of all gene therapies.
The research of AntiCancer Inc. can be supported by
a check to the following address. Please write, that the money
is for the hair gene therapy program. AntiCancer Inc. also
have other programs (e.g. against cancer):
AntiCancer Inc.
More information about the research of AntiCancer Inc.
can be found e.g. at
http://www.regrowth.com/documents.cfm?id=10205
http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA06/bald.html
One more time: Every donation is needed and important.
Please post a short message in the "Gene
therapy" forum (if you want anonymously) and write,
how much and to whom you donated the money, e.g. "I
donated 100 dollars to Dr. XY today". Then we can see
the progress of the project. We will inform everybody about
the amount of donated money on the homepage.
Additionally everybody can try to inform rich people
about this project. Surely big donations help very much to
hasten genetic baldness research. Up to now the American multimillionaire
Mr. Steve Kirsch, the founder of the Internet search engine
Infoseek, could be convinced to support genetherapeutic hair
research. Lately he donated 100.000 dollars to Dr. Christiano,
after he talked to his medical advisory board. The donation
can be found on his website at http://www.kirschfoundation.org
Surely other rich people will also be interested in donating
to baldness research. Especially rich and famous people have
a great pressure to look youg and beautiful. So if you know
the (e-mail-)addresses or phone numbers of rich people with
hairloss, please inform them about the possibility to donate
directly to leading genetherapeutic researchers. Please
write a short message in the forum "Gene
therapy" forum when you contact a rich person with
hair problems, e.g. „Today I contacted Carlos Santana“.
Then this person isn´t contacted by 20 people because of the
same topic. We don´t want to annoy the rich persons.
Also if you know a rich person with hair problems personally
(perhaps a friend or a family member), please inform him about
the donation project.
The author (andreas_w_lutz@hotmail.com)
knows the personal e-mail-addresses of the researchers. So
if anyone wants to contact the researchers personally before
making a big donation, this is no problem.
5.2. Participation
in studies
Currently there are some studies, that want to find
the genes for androgenetic alopecia (hereditary hairloss)
and alopecia areata. It is very important, that everybody,
who meets the criteria, participates in these studies. Only
if the responsible genes are found, successful gene therapies
will be possible. To participate in the studies, you simply
have to do two things:
-
send
some blood samples to the researchers. The blood samples can
be collected by your personal doctor in your home town.
-
answer
some questions about the history of your hairloss
The criteria of the studies are very similar, so probably
you can participate in more than one study. The more researchers can work with your blood
samples, the sooner the genes will be found.
STUDIES in the USA
- Study of the pharma firm Johnson&Johnson:
The researchers from Johnson&Johnson are lead by
Dr. Stenn. They look for people, that are completely bald
before the age of 30-35. Your current age is not important.
The blood samples of some of your family members are also
needed. Of course your information is treated absolutely confidential.
All details about this study can be found at http://www.thethinker.com/baldgene
You can contact Dr. Stenn e.g. by e-mail : KSTENN@CPIUS.JNJ.COM
Then Dr. Stenn will send the necessary documents to
you.
Dr. Christiano (Columbia University) is looking for
the genes, that cause androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata.
She is looking for 200
pairs of brothers with androgenetic alopecia (=hereditary
hairloss or male pattern baldness). Both brothers must have
a hair state of Norwood VII before the age of 30 and the brothers
must have the same parents. Both parents must be alive. Dr.
Christiano needs blood samples of the brothers and of the
parents. The blood samples can be taken by the local doctor
and then be sent to the Columbia University at no cost. Additionally
a short phone call is necessary. Or you can go the dermatological
institute of the Columbia University. The study is looking
for:
-
200
pairs of sisters wth androgenetic alopecia
-
200
pairs of brothers with alopecia areata
-
200
pairs of sisters with alopecia areata
If you have any questions about the studies, please contact Cathy Donovan
by phone at (212) 305-5317
You will find more details about all the studies at http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/derm/hairloss
A Gene Chip Study at Cornell is currently underway
Scientists at Cornell are looking for participants to donate
tissue samples so they can perform a study to determine if
they can identify the genes responsible for Male Pattern Baldness.
There are also studies being performed on other hair loss
conditions like Alopecia Areata and the Follicular Degeneration
Syndrome. For more information about the ongoing research
studies at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University
please visit http://www.nycornell.org/dermatology/research/
or call Hadley King at 212-746-6554.
STUDIES in GERMANY:
·
Study of Dr. Nöthen (University of Düsseldorf/Germany)
and Dr. Kruse (University of Bonn/Germany)
Dr. Nöthen and Dr.
Kruse are looking for the genes, that cause androgenetic alopecia
in men. They need men, that are younger than 39 years, with
very few hair and a brother, that is also affected. Additionally
they are looking for men, that are at least 60 years and still
have full hair.
Questions about this
study will be answered by
Dr. med. Kruse: Universitäts-Hautklinik
Düsseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, 40225 Düsseldorf/Germany
PD Dr. med Markus
Nöthen: Institut für Humangenetik der Universitätsklinik Bonn,
Wilhelmstraße 31, 53111 Bonn
5.3. Acceleration of clinical studies
Before a new drug is available
to everybody it is tested in clinical trials. Clinical trials
have three phases. In Phase I the drug is tested in some healthy
individuals to see, if there are any serious side-effects,
that the animal studies didn´t show. In Phase II the efficiency
and safety of the drug is tested in some hundred patients.
In Phase III the drug is tested in a large number of ill people.
If the drug succeeds in the three phases, the maker of the
drug asks the FDA or another approval organization to approve
the new drug.
As soon as human
clinical trials with a baldness gene therapy start, it is
important, that a lot of people express their wish, that these
studies are done as fast as possible. The German magazine
„Focus“ reported recently, that cancer patients
coordinated themselves in the Internet and made pressure on
a pharma firm to accelerate the studies of a new cancer drug.
So they were able to hasten the approval process significantly.
The drug came to the market 3 years earlier, than expected!
The employees of the pharma firm had to do some overtime but
this saved the life of many of the cancer patients.
Obviously it is possible
to accelerarte the approval process significantly. As soon
as clinical trials with baldness gene therapies start, we
should try to organize similar actions like the cancer patients!
6. Questions and feedback
Individual questions
will be answered in the "Gene
therapy" forum.
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