A new method could bring researchers one-step closer to a cure for baldness.
Researchers have been looking at stem cells as a baldness solution for years, but until now have never seen a potential for them to "generate [a] sufficient number of hair-follicle-generating stem cells," a Penn Medicine news release reported.
For the first time in history researchers were able to convert adult cells into epithelial stem cells (EpSCs).
The team implanted epithelial stem cells immunocompromised mice and successfully regenerated human skin and hair follicles and even produced "structurally recognizable" hair shafts.
The team used human skin cells called dermal fibroblasts. "By adding three genes, they converted those cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the capability to differentiate into any cell types in the body. They then converted the iPS cells into epithelial stem cells, normally found at the bulge of hair follicles," the news release reported.
The team then converted iPSCs into keratinocytes and controlled the timing of the growth factors of the cells; this allowed them to make the iPSCs generate epithelial stem cells. They were able to turn over 25 percent of iPSCs into epithelial stem cells over the course of 18 days.
Gene comparisons showed the stem cells were what the team had set out to create.
"This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles," Xiaowei "George" Xu associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Dermatology said in the news release.
Further research will be required in order to try out this method on humans.
"When a person loses hair, they lose both types of cells." Xu said. "We have solved one major problem, the epithelial component of the hair follicle. We need to figure out a way to also make new dermal papillae cells, and no one has figured that part out yet."
