Recent Advances in Hair Cloning

Article by HairlossTalk.com

Since we don't yet have a convenient topical liquid you can just put on your head
to kickstart new follicle development, several academic and commercial groups
based in the US, Canada, England, the Netherlands, and Japan have been looking
into the method of extracting normal hair follicles, culturing the dermal papilla
cells outside the body, and then implanting them, to induce new hair follicles.
This basic technique comes in several variations and with a variety of names,
but perhaps the most common method of referring to the hair follicle regeneration
principle is “hair or follicle cloning”. Strictly speaking, the technique
does not involve cloning in the true scientific sense (as in Dolly the sheep),
but multiple hair follicles can be produced from just one donor follicle, so it
is a sort of cloning. Others refer to “follicular neogenesis” or “multiplication”.
It is all basically the same thing.

Hair Cloning is a proven Technology

Scientists have actually known about the ability to induce new hair follicle
development by using existing hair follicles for a long time. As far back as
1944 two scientists, Lillie and Wang, were taking bits of feather follicle (which
is basically the same structure as a mammal hair follicle) and implanting them
to chicken skin to induce new hair follicles to form. In the 1960's Cohen and
Oliver showed the same could be done with rat follicles. This principle was
developed greatly by other scientists and particularly Colin Jahoda and Amanda
Reynolds who are past students of Oliver. With studies on rodents, Jahoda and
Reynolds showed that just the dermal papilla cells could be used to produce
new hair follicles, and that these cells could be cultured and then transferred
to skin to induce new hair follicles. In a paper published in the top journal
“Nature”, they showed that cells could be taken from one human donor,
(Jahoda) and implanted to another (Reynolds) and induce new hair follicle formation,
although no cell culturing was involved in this particular study. So far this
is the only study actually published to prove hair cloning would work in humans.

Since this publication, there has been a lot of interest in developing the idea
of hair and follicle cloning into a practical technique for use in the dermatology/hair
transplant clinic. Companies like Aderans (the owners of the hair transplant
chain, Bosley International) and Intercytex have set up well funded laboratories
to develop the technique. Dr's Jahoda and Reynolds continue their academic work
at Durham University in England and several other academic research scientists
have decided to jump on the bandwagon.

The Current Roadblocks with Hair Cloning

1 - Unreliable Quantities

While the principle of hair cloning is proven, turning it into a practical technique
for clinical use is fraught with problems. First, the results of implantation
can be very variable. Even if they inject the same quantity of cells, and even
if the cells are from the same donor, the number of hair follicles produced
in response is extremely unreliable. There have been unofficial reports from
two sources (Aderans/Bosley, Dr Jerry Cooley) that they have successfully induced
hair growth in humans by using cultured cells. Unfortunately the success rate
stated by both sources was poor. Implantation of cultured cells to volunteers
by Aderans/Bosley produced just 2 hairs in a single individual. Dr Jerry Cooley
implanted cultured cells into himself at fifteen different sites but only managed
to promote one hair follicle to grow.

2 - Unreliable Angles

Second, the new hair follicles induced in studies using rats or mice are usually
disorientated. Natural hair follicles grow hair with a “grain”,
so on your scalp your hair grows in whirl pattern (usually clockwise) about
the vertex. On your lower legs your hair grows down towards your feet etc. With
hair follicles induced in hair cloning studies on rodents, the follicles can
grow hair at all sorts of angles. This gives a cosmetically “scruffy”
appearance.

3 - Uneven Distribution / Patchy Growth

Third, natural hair follicles are evenly distributed over the skin, but in rodent
studies hair follicles induced by hair cloning do not have an even distribution
over the skin – there can be clumps of hair growth. Again, the cosmetic
appearance of this clumpy growth is generally unacceptable.

For hair cloning to become a practical and popular treatment, all these problems
must be overcome.


For Hair Cloning to work, researchers need to be
able to (1) produce a consistent number of hair follicles
for a given number of injected dermal papilla cells (2)
figure out how to control the angle at which the new follicles grow and (3)
produce a consistent level of density over the treated area. Currently, these
are the 3 main roadblocks to successful hair cloning.


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