William Atkins
Monday, 13 October 2008 21:48
Science -
Biology
Page 1 of 3
A German-led study and a British/American-led study have both found a second gene locus location that is responsible for alopecia, or hair loss. Can we screen men now for male pattern baldness? Can we prevent hair loss now?
The German-led study was published online on Sunday, October 12, 2008 in the journal
Nature Genetics.
Its title is “
Susceptibility variants for male-pattern baldness on chromosome 20p11.” The lead authors in the study are Axel M Hillmer and Felix F Brockschmidt, both from the Department of Genomics, Life and Brain Center, University of Bonn, Germany.
They stated in the abstract to their paper,
“We carried out a genome-wide association study in 296 individuals with male-pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia) and 347 controls. We then investigated the 30 best SNPs [single nucleotide polymorphisms] in an independent replication sample and found highly significant association for five SNPs on chromosome 20p11 (rs2180439 combined P = 2.7 10-15)."
They added,
"No interaction was detected with the X-chromosomal androgen receptor locus, suggesting that the 20p11 locus has a role in a yet-to-be-identified androgen-independent pathway.”
The U.K. study, also in Nature Genetics, was published online on October 12, 2008, too. Its title is “
Male-pattern baldness susceptibility locus at 20p11.”
Its lead authors are Tim D. Spector, of the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, United Kingdom, and Vincent Mooser, of the Genetics Division, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Their abstract states,
“We conducted a genome-wide association study for androgenic alopecia in 1,125 men and identified a newly associated locus at chromosome 20p11.22, confirmed in three independent cohorts (n = 1,650; OR = 1.60, P = 1.1 10-14 for rs1160312)."
What did the research conclude? Please read page two.
