William Atkins
Monday, 05 January 2009 22:00
Science -
Biology
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The gene known as HR has been discovered to be responsible for premature hair loss in families with congenital atrichia or MUHH. The discovery of this DNA mutation by Chinese researchers may one day help to find a cure for the disease and for baldness in general.
Dr. Xue Zhang, who is associated with the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (
PUMCH) in Beijing, China, and fellow colleagues found that chemical levels of the HR gene must be maintained at a certain level in order to prevent hair loss in children afflicted with the a rare form of hair loss called Maria Unna Hereditary hypotrichosis (MUHH), also called congenital atrichia.
They specifically found that problems in the gene U2HR cause MUHH.
The baldness disease is named after German dermatologist Maria Unna, who first identified the problem (calling it hypotrichosis congenital hereditaria) in 1925 (
Unna, M: Uber Hypotrichosis Congenita Hereditaria. Dermatol Wochenschr 81:1167–1178, 1925) after reporting the problem in 27 individuals in northern Germany.
The Chinese researchers state that in the abstract to their paper “
Marie Unna hereditary hypotrichosis (MUHH) is an autosomal dominant form of genetic hair loss.”
It has been known for about a decade that HR (hairless homolog) genes are responsible for congenital atrichia. These researchers have identified the mutation of the gene.
In congenital atrichia, babies are born with little or no hair on their heads. During the first-year of life, infants gradually lose their course and thin hair through puberty, and it never returns.
MUHH affects both men and women. In adulthood, MUHH patients do not normally have armpit and pubic hair, along with not having eyebrows or eyelashes.
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