The gene(s) that cause Male Pattern Baldness

[Quantum Cat]

have these been positively identified? If so I'd be happy to have these genes removed or deactivated in me.

 

[LawOfThelema]

DKK-1 and length of CAG nucleotide repeats in the AR gene come to mind.

 

[Quantum Cat]

DKK-1 and length of CAG nucleotide repeats in the AR gene come to mind.

how do I get rid of those genes?

 

[ABJac]

Your best bet would be to try and cook yourself, maybe find a way to get in the oven and cook yourself at 400 degrees for a good hour. You are joking right? The expressions of genes is so complex, even the consideration of trying this is funny. If you would like to get genetic testing done, look here http://www.genome.gov/19516567 , but asking them to delete the genes that cause hair loss will probably get you crazy looks.

 

[Quantum Cat]

haven't they done gene therapy to cure people of certain diseases? Could this not be done for male pattern baldness?

 

[Moximus]

have these been positively identified? If so I'd be happy to have these genes removed or deactivated in me.

Obviously they can't be deactivated but if we really want to talk about the genes that play a role, let's do that.

Clearly, the Androgren receptor located on the X Chromosome is probably the biggest player (and as previously mentioned, sensitivity may be correlated to CAG repeats in the receptor). Other genes that have been identified via correlation studies include: Ectodysplasin A2 receptor (also located on the X chromosome), an allele on chromosome 3q26 human telomerase RNA gene (hTERC), and a non coding allele on chromosome 20q11. There's other that have been identified as well. Let's just say it's a very polygenic syndrome that unfortunately won't have one solid answer for a cure.

 

[Quantum Cat]

I've heard that some people claim it's possible to alter your genes - that's the kind of route I'm looking at. Not remove them completely

- - - Updated - - -

this article claims gene therapy is just around the corner :jump:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-77702/Could-gene-therapy-banish-baldness-forever.html

 

[ABJac]

Yeah they can do a lot with genes, but the issue with gene therapy is knowing exactly what bad will come with good, and asking to delete the genes connected to alopecia would undoubtedly effect other aspects of your manhood quite drastically, and permanently. The ideal approach would be finding the connection in the scalp that makes it the only region of our body sensitive to androgens.

 

[LawOfThelema]

haven't they done gene therapy to cure people of certain diseases?

Yes, for a very small number of cases, leukemia as one example. There they cultured white blood cells which were genetically engineered to attack and consume cancerous cells and injected the cultured cells into the patients. Obviously the modality of genetic engineering depends on the disease. How it would be done in male pattern baldness is not immediately clear. Replicel reminds me of a kind. Use the cells from the area of the scalp that isn't bald to try to repopulate the areas that are bald with cells that wont be genetically disposed to balding.

In genetic therapy it is not always as simple as "deleting the genes that cause the disease".

 

[goingon24]

The only thing gene therapy should be used for atm is in life endangering diseases since if you mess up the computer code of your body its going to throw out an error and there's a good chance you will get cancer. (leukemia is what people have gotten from gene therapy gone wrong)

It's best to go the replicel route atm like i'm attempting myself if you're looking to fight hairloss in this area.

 

[anxious1]

and furthermore, hidden in the introns of genes, are micro rna's which epigenetically control the dialing up or down or the silencing or expression of genes.

U can knockout a gene, they do it all the time in mouse embryos, but the effects usually kill them. or severely deform them. But we cant currently knockout a gene in a adult, all u can do is knock it out in an embryo, and then some of its prodgeny will have the knockout, so u breed the ones with the knockouts, until theres no mouse with the gene left.

im sure one day we will be able to do it. just not right now. The biggest hurdle is ethics, we cant run knock out experiments on humans. And its very cruel even with animals, there has to be real evidence it will cure a bad disease even to get permission to do it on mice. (i guess that was the good thing about the nazis, they were cruel as hell, but they contributed to medical science)

i have a lecture on mouse knock outs somewhere, i can try and find it.

 

[abcdefg]

Gene therapy is not ready for prime time its a work in progress. Given the complexity of male pattern baldness we are not using gene therapy to cure it in our life times. I dont know if we even know all the genes involved yet.

 

[uncomfortable man]

All the book smarts in the world isn't going to bring hair back to a bald mans head. This section is the very definition of PURGATORY for the bald man.

 

[abcdefg]

Lets just get a way to keep our hair that is safe and I would be more then happy with just that. Not a big fan of the idea of changing my hormones which I think is kind of common sense that is not good idea long term to do.

 

[HairGuru22]

Lets just get a way to keep our hair that is safe and I would be more then happy with just that. Not a big fan of the idea of changing my hormones which I think is kind of common sense that is not good idea long term to do.

Messing up your endocrine system is the only to reverse hairloss, its sad really.

 

[2020]

This is even better than any gene therapy - AR knockout, already been tested on people with prostate cancer:
http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/15/1/39.full

bad news: it doesn't last forever...

 

[Exodus2011]

In reality it cud if the money and resources were made to put those book smarts to jse