Tregs and Hair Growth

In May, two new major hair loss related discoveries received widespread coverage in English language newspapers around the world. Not something you see regularly.

  1. I covered the first of these two in my post on a protein in skin cells called Krox20 that impacts hair growth and pigmentation. This discovery came about accidentally via unrelated research on cancer at University of Texas Southwestern.
  2. The second discovery from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) was also accidental. Skin and immune cell related dermatological research led to surprising hair growth findings. This second development is summarized below.

Regulatory T Cells (Tregs)

The latest big development concerns regulatory T Cells (nicknamed “Tregs”) which modulate the immune system. In a new study led by Dr. Michael Rosenblum, it was found that Tregs are directly responsible for triggering stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth. Historically, it was thought that hair growth was entirely related to stem cell activity. The new findings suggest that certain immune cells (i.e., Tregs) are also essential for hair growth and their is some sort of symbiotic communication between immune cells and hair cells.

Increasing Evidence that the Immune System Plays a Role in all Types of Hair Loss

There have been several papers in recent years that have implicated the immune system in hair loss and hair growth. However, in general, scientist continue to believe that immune system defect and inflammation related hair loss only affects 2-3 percent of hair loss sufferers, and they label that type of hair loss as alopecia areata (AA).

For the vast majority (>95 percent) of hair loss sufferers, male hormones (androgens) are causing their hair loss and the condition is therefore labeled as “male pattern baldness (MPB)” or “androgenetic alopecia (AGA)”. The immune system was until recently not thought to play any major role in AGA.

However, famous researcher Dr. Angela Christiano’s findings from Columbia University research in 2014 and 2015 changed all that. Her work implicated the immune system in both AA and AGA (albeit far more clearly in the former). Her team found that certain types of covalently bound topical JAK inhibitors led to hair regrowth in mice suffering from AGA and not just in those suffering from AA. Her AGA related patents were later sold to Aclaris Therapeutics, a company that plans to test topical JAK inhibitors on AGA in future.

Could Tregs also Play a Role in Male Pattern Baldness?

When I first read about this latest study from UCSF, it was in a few UK newspapers and the wording was sometimes a bit unclear when it comes to Tregs and non-alopecia areata type hair loss (e.g., “could also play a role in other types of hair loss”) .

However, later on I read the official UCSF press release article on this, and the below quote right from the horse’s mouth is extremely encouraging:

The new study – published online May 26 in Cell – suggests that defects in Tregs could be responsible for alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, and could potentially play a role in other forms of baldness, including male pattern baldness, Rosenblum said.

And another version from The Telegraph:

Tregs could also play a role in other forms of baldness, including the classic “male pattern” variety that causes men to recede and lose their hair, the team believes.

Addendum

For many years I have noticed that a large number of people (including myself) suffering from male pattern hair loss seem to also have major regular itching and dandruff episodes. Often requiring daily anti-dandruff shampoo use. In the past, I have mentioned that if JAK inhibitors do ever work to treat AGA, there is a good chance they will work the best on people who have these itching symptom.

I think that immune system attack and inflammation are probably at least partially responsible for the itching and skin flaking. Commentator “Netshed” started an interesting survey in the last post related to scalp itching, and he is welcome to re-post it here. I might do an official survey like that in future too.

168 thoughts on “Tregs and Hair Growth”

  1. I used to have an oily scalp and hair, with thick itching dandruff and red scalp skin under such dandruff, finasteride did not reduce it, and the nizoral shampoo calmed it for maximum of 24 hours. I used to have on my face skin what is known as eczema.

  2. I have always felt I lose more hair when its itching and flaking. May be its just me. May be the time of losing hair just coincides with the flaking, i dont know.

    1. Same here! Figured out only thing that really works for me is working out very regularly, good amount of sun for my head and alternating head&shoulders/ nizoral!
      Whenever im sick or not able to do sports and omitting my shampoos, it comes back!

      Im quite sure its an inflammation thing, at least on me!

    1. Rapamycin has a rather big/heavy molecule… it won’t penetrate the stratum corneum so there are very very limited options of using is as a topical

  3. This is again another great advance for areata, but until a shred of evidence is given to implicate the immune system as the culprit in AGA, it’s hard for me to get excited by this news :/

      1. repost

        “Yes smurfy, I agree, perhaps people are just jaded and can’t discern between irrelevant discoveries and very relevant ones like this one..

        So I read first article again, and essentially what it boils this immune cell to stem cell communication signal down to is “the jag1 notch signalling pathway”…

        So I did a quick Google to see if anybody ever studied jag1 relevance to mpb, and low and behold, this has already been identified in a prior genetic based study as a possible causitive factor in AGA… Wow here’s an excerpt

        “The expression patterns of Notch signaling pathway genes including Notch 2 and JAG1 were validated by real-time PCR (Figure S1). Jagged1 (JAG1) gene which encodes a ligand for Notch receptor maps to chromosome 20p a susceptibility locus for male-pattern baldness [8]. A reciprocal negative feedback regulation exists between Notch and AR-dependent pathways in the prostate [9]. The activation of AR and the concomitant loss of Notch signaling may be contributing factors to hair follicle miniaturization and may serve as the mechanistic link between prostate cancer and AGA. Thus, modulating the Notch signaling pathway in AGA may lead to future therapies.”

        That from the journal of dermatological science. “Microarray analysis of androgenetic and senescent alopecia: Comparison of gene expression shows two distinct profiles.”

        This is pretty god damn interesting… Is this what is really wrong with us? A simple notch signalling error?

        CS, surely you have an opinion here? (He’s probably researching the shit out of this as we speak! Lol)”

  4. I have said from the get go. Jak if can cure other types of hair loss then it should help AGA. It will in my opinion. I 100% think and stand by my opinion that the immune system has a part to play for AGA. I have itching issues on my head but not that bad as I use nizoral regularly. But on my beard, on my head and eyebrows I have bad dry skin and dashing if I don’t keep up with the shampoo. Really horrible to have but it goes when treated. Don’t have a problem anywhere else apart from hair on my face and head in terms of the inflamed skin itching. You wouldn’t know looking at me though thank god for nizoral aha. I have had dandruff since teens I don’t remember having it young, and my face only began begin itchy and inflamed as i lost hair and I realised it. So there’s an obvious connection.

    1. That’s been my opinion all along too. If JAK works on AA then why not for AGA. It has been proven Not to work in Pill form but maybe the right type of JAK and the right skin topical will do the trick.

      If you think about it this way. AA hair loss is due to hairs becoming microscopic just like in AGA but their is solveable with JAK in the blood stream. I do not see why the most potent hair growing drug as described by Dr. Christiano will work for their microscopic hair but not for AGA microscopic hair. I think JAK just needs the right delivery mechansim for us or maybe a complimentary compound.

        1. Nice to know.

          They work very well for AA thus I would think they would work well for normal hair loss. If not then it probably needs some type of other complimentary compound to get a high success rate. But I am hoping that it works by itself.

    2. I am using Dermasmooth, it works super well to control any eczema effects both on scalp and beard! Highly recommended, look it up.

  5. To Check inflammation role in mpb….scratch, dermaroller, or slap your scalp. Immune reaction will cause you to sneeze.

  6. I’m probably a nw6 heading to 7 , i still have bad itching and dandruff ,even now ! I use t-gel and tea tree shampoo and it helps with both a little ! Good read , hopefully they can use this new info to formulate a treatment!

  7. The immune system is the code that leads to the treatment of baldness and grayness through the activation of korx20 and TREGS

  8. I remember when I was in highschool I was able to wear a baseball cap almost everyday, all day. But in college I had to frequently take it off to scratch my head, sometimes several times within just 5 minutes. I refuse to wear hats anymore for this reason.
    I know my scalp is definitely drier now than 10 years ago. Nizoral helps but maybe only because it’s fighting fungus and not addressing the root cause, the dryness.
    Could it be that I’m using my brain too much at work that my head is overheating? Haha
    I wonder if baldness is more common in certain professions than others.

  9. The Tregs is very interesting. I don’t believe JAKs will do anything for male pattern baldness that will be significant. We’ve all seen that guys pictures of his donor area only coming back. I don’t think just switching to topical will make all the difference and if it does how hard is it to test that and show pictures like they did for aa? Christiano’s been working on this how many years?

    1. Always the same argument with that guy… They clearly said that only highly selective covalently bound Jak inhibitors could work.

      1. Okay so how long does it take to obtain said covalent bound jak inhibitors and apply it to the scalp of a man with male pattern baldness? How long has Christiano been working on this?

        1. I don’t know how long it will take. It’s absolutely logic that Christiano and Aclaris already tested it on AGA. They know that it works. Nasa_rs was right. Recent news show that AGA is indeed related to AGA. I hope that they finally say officially that topical Decernotinib works for AGA and that they will go on with Phase 1 trials.
          Let’s assume it works, the real question will be what will happen to guys who are slick bald for many years? I do think that it plays a major role how long these follicles are resting. Christiano showed that jak inhibitors affect the hair cycle directly but we also have to keep in mind that mice follicles are not shrunken due to DHT.. @ Nasa_rs what do you think about this?

          To sum it up: I think jak inhibitors will definetely work better on hair follicles that are still producing thin and short hairs. (I don’t want to start the discussion about: when will follicles die or when is the point of no return) but maybe some of you have some thoughts on this.

          1. So you’ll still need something to take care of the dht and if dht shrinks the follicles what will taming the immune system to reverse that I wonder? It won’t stop dht production so you’ll still see follicles shrinking unless you plan to always take a dht blocker as well. I also wonder what problems could arise by suppressing the scalps immune system long term?

            1. I cannot explain how it works. The only thing I am very certain is that Aclaris and Christiano know that it DOES work on AGA. Dr. Neal Walker himself said that topical jak inhibitor DOES work on AGA and the recent news confirm that AGA and the immune system are related to each other.

              Maybe we get some new information in a few days (June 8th Jefferies Health Conference). A year ago at the same time Neal Walker said that topical version works von AGA, so maymbe we will get an update. Webcast will be availbe on aclaris homepage.

              1. I am just watching for updates on the JAK trial for normal hair loss on the Aclaris Pipeline page. They should update it sometime this year and that will tell us a lot.

  10. I’m a 26 year old guy, with a NW6 or NW7 pattern of alopecia. I suffer from a severe AGA since I was 20, so my hair gone really fast.
    I usally shave my hair or cut it really short (only thing that I can do I suppose). When I let my hair grow a little more I start feeling a really itching sensation and I have to be scratching my hair all the time, it really burns sometimes.
    Hoping for a cure or new treatments in these years to come, the process of becoming bald, specially when you are young, is really painful and nobody should go through it.

  11. All I know is that I had really bad dandruff when I first started losing my hair. My hair was snowing with dandruff. Nizoral helped with the oiliness but not with dandruff. Once I started massaging my scalp that’s when my dandruff reduced dramatically! I still have it but not as much. Scalp pain and burn was also a feeling I had early on with my hairloss but Propecia cured that. I do strongly believe aga is immune related along with dht that triggers it. My biggest problem is that treatments for aga just takes so long while AA is quicker. I dint understand why christiano and aclaris just can’t say it works and it grows x amount. Why all the bs secrecy with mpb, while AA they show pics, results etc in preparation clinical levels. I’m telling you its a conspiracy or some agenda behind it. 30 years and we still have Rogain and Propecia is the only treatments.

  12. @Royaume: how do you know it DOES work for AGA? do you have photos? if so pls share it with all of us…
    apparently everyone on the news seem to solve MPB yet none of them fail to provide any evidence…
    to me it is all speculations to ramp up your stock price.
    if you do actually have a cure, you will be on times maganize cover page sure and all over the news with decent photos. no light, angle altering…

    1. There are not AGA photos that shows that JAK works on AGA but they have a reason for not releasing this kind of information.

      Honestly if I were Aclaris I would not provide any photos before knowing exactly how lobg it will take (marketing, production, FDA approval etc.)

      Do you actually know that i means if this works? It means that Aclaris would destroy all the other companies. Just imagine how Cotsarelis would react after spending more than 10 years on wounding. It’s like winning a multi billion dollar lottery. Very dangerous to provide information before planning how to go on.

      1. But they did show pictures for aa it’s just aga that were suppose to believe jaks work with because…jaks and aga exist?

        1. The only person who is ridiculous is you. Use your brain instead of talking BS. Of course they own the patent. They are way smarter than you are. Owning the patent does not mean that they immediately scream to the world:
          WE HAVE CURED BALDNESS! If it really works and if they get similar results as Alopecia Areata, then they will wait for the right moment to share this breakthrough.
          I have never said that they don’t provide this kind of information because of patent etc.

          1. It probably boosts density a bit but odds are only by a little. It might work better than minox though which would be a big breaktrough.

  13. I totally agree with Donitello! If they have a cure it would have made the nightly news and time magazine. If nothing gets released in 2018 then I’m going to have to get an fue on my right side. I’m a nw1.5 on my left temple as nw3 on my right. Weirdest looking balding. If I comb my hair forward the left front is nice thick the right side is diffuse and thin from crown to hair line. Anyone else like this?

    1. I have the exact same pattern a I always thought it was because I part my hair to the left but who knows. The only difference is that Im 23 and propecia gave me nasty sides so Im in a bit of a pickle.

  14. Futurism.com. has a report on Samumed. I cant watch it because I’m at a bright noisy swimming pool.

  15. So the (immune response related) questions I posted before were:

    – which area of your scalp is already bald / still balding
    (front / mid / crown / entire top)?
    – which area is painful sometimes
    (none / front / mid / crown / entire top)?
    – how fast is / was that area balding
    (slowly / mildly/ agressive)?

    If there are readers who are bald/balding, and who have no pain/itch/numbness/thightness at all, we want to know that as well! Because the responders uptil now, all said they feel some pain.

  16. Egghead-nothimg new in the video. Just says samumed got 10% growth in 3 months and planning phase 3 trial soon. That’s it

  17. Where is samumed with their testing? Last I heard they were doing another phase two b test to see which strength showed the greatest growth. Has this been started/completed? Anyone?

  18. 28, probably NW3, temples (worse on the right), just started noticing diffuse through front, mid, a little into crown over past 6 to 8 months, lots of itching and tightness in areas that are losing hair.

  19. I used to have itching daily all day but i realized it was because i was being too protective of my hair and nor rubbing it when shampooing. Massaging and cleaning scalp daily got rid of itch.

  20. I don’t get dandruff but I get this weird film of oil across my scalp, and even though it doesn’t itch in a classical sense, I find myself scratching nonetheless. Sometimes I feel loose little flackies of skin. But the only time I’ve ever had the stereotypical white dandruff flakes came when I tried Rogaine.

    Anyone get the oily head?

    I used to use this great shampoo called Nioxin that would calm down the oil for a few days. Can’t find it anymore.

    1. yea same here, ever since i started losing my hair (at 25) my head has been extremely oily and yea i find theres a phantom itch. I’ve tried every kind of shampoo and i cant seem to get it under control . its very strange, if u find something i’d love to know

    2. Yeah same I have that problem too. I also feel tightness and a somewhat prickly sensation around the areas im losing my hair as well. Comes and goes every few months or so.

  21. so i was just thinking about all of this. and as far as i can remember all the people i know that have gone bald had lots of pimples/acne in high school. the males that had really bad acne have gone bald very early on (early 20s) and those of us that had mild acne are receding alot slower. i think there is a very big connection here.

    1. I believe androgens and testosterone cause more oil production hence more acne and dht production mainly starts at puberty also so that makes alot of sense.

  22. There is a huge connection between going baldness and immune system for sure. My Dad went bald in his early 20’s and psoriasis appears on his skin from time2time. I had an intense acne in highschool and my face and hairs had been going really oily through the day. I also suffer of something what docs call irritable bowel syndrome so i think baldness and so other issues we have are caused by some not funny organism retardation. Ughh… Why life puts this sand into our eyes. This is so unfair… Bless u guys and believe in 2020 deadline :)

  23. maybe explains the horseshoe shape?

    DERMAL ADIPOSE TISSUE IN HAIR FOLLICLE CYCLING: POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS IN ALOPECIA?

    Cross-talk between the hair follicles (HFs) in different stages of their cycling and adjacent adipose tissue is a new important topic which is of both theoretical and practical interest. Objective – to analyze available data on possible interrelationship of dermal adipose tissue and hair follicle cycling. Experimental results obtained in rodents clearly demonstrate that HFs cycling is connected to adjacent dermal adipose tissue. Recently uncovered adipocyte-myofibroblast transition can be significantly involved in miniaturization of HFs and be an important pathophysiological step in androgenetic alopecia. Improvement of adipogenic environment of HFs can be important both in treatment of alopecia and in surgical hair restoration procedures.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574382

    1. Very interesting. There is a study I read in December on the importance of immature adipocytes releasing positive growth factors in the follicular environment vs mature adipocytes. Maybe this balance gets gradually converted to nearly complete mature adipocytes in AGA. Also don’t forget that leptin is a known inducer of anagen phase (like a lot of other things). Leptin is directly tied with hormonal metabolism and fat production

  24. also i have felt that after moving from east coast to west coast (maryland to california) my hair loss became much more worse, and i think its because of water. i take shower under water everyday and wet my air and one day i let the water sit in a mug and the water was literally white for about 2 minutes. i assume that means lot of chlorine. and i feel itchy and flaky after i take head shower. so now i am ordering a showerhead water filter. so atleast i can remove the external factors.

  25. @Royaume: then why did they show photos for AA and scream all over the world that they have solved the mystery? even with one photo?
    I tell you this, I am working in one of the big pharmas so I know how they think or work. If they have a solid photo or believe it is the cure, trust me they will call all the media, news channels, hollywood stars, abraham lincoln and yuri gagarin back from the moon to show they have a proof of concept and its working like a gem. trust me even UFOs gonna know we have solved the mystery. and yes even one photo will be enough..

    in other words, I think they have some results from JAK but most probably they are not statistically significant, probably 10% growth rate…. and pls keep in mind fin has also 10% growth promise,,, and what we talking all about fin and minox? it doesnt support growth only maintenance right? probably JAK would be the same if it provides only 10%….

    1. Ivlnow what you mean anf I’ve also said that I think that it definitely has an effect on AGA but no one knows to what extent? Maybe only for diffuse thinners where the hair follicles are still alive and producing short thin hair…

      I hope that Neal Walker clearly say this week on June 8th that they had significant hair regrowth using topical jak inhibitor decernotinib.

      1. By the way… Please don’t compare the news on curing Areata with curing MPB in news. Of course Areata is also very devestating but only 1-2 percent of hair loss sufferers (I think in USA) have Areata and over 70% men suffer from AGA.

        Oh god… let’s end this nightmare with JAKs. If this works we should built a memorial statue for Angela Christiano xD

  26. I have a question for you:

    In AGA, is normal that the itching never ceases despite taking many treatments like nizoral 2%, t-gel, ratio-topisone, ratio-amcinonide, pramox, etc. ???

  27. Admin, if you do end up taking a poll on hair-loss pattern and itchiness please include a part that asks if the scalp has gotten more oily as the hair is being lost.
    I’ve been losing a lot of hair on my temples and I’ve noticed that my forehead and Temple area always seems shiny and oily. The rest of my face is totally fine. It only gets like that in the balding areas and I wonder if that’s the same with everyone
    I’m always worried about removing that oil because then I feel the body may try to overproduce to make up for what I’m removing and then I’ll be double screwed. I would love to hear others thoughts on how to effectively remove or reduce the oil.

    1. I’ve definitely seen a correlation between hair loss and sebum/ oil production. When I used finasteride, my hair got less oily, was itching less, and my hair loss stopped. When I stopped using finasteride my hair (especially the crown) started itching again and my hair got more oily.

      1. I can confirm the same pattern. Since I started fina I have way less oil production inc. less oily hair. Forehead and temples always got super oily (inc. some acne).

  28. Im from australia and i notice that in summer i lose alot more hair. Last summer i shed for 3 months straight. Most of summer was above 30 degrees Celsius. I think this is because sweat contains lactic acid which is bad for hair follicles. Possibly i just have so many toxins in my body that they come out in my sweat. I noticed around the age of 20 i completely stopped sweating in the exact horseshoe area. Once i started losing hair at my temples i noticed huge amounts of sweat in the temple areas. Now in summer my entire hairline sweats constantly and hairs shed so easily. During winter i have absolutely no shedding and regrow lots of hair. Amino acids seem to be crucial for minoxidil to work for me.

    1. I’ve noticed the opposite actually. I feel like my hair grows faster in the summer vs the winter. Maybe exposure to vitamin d from the sun?

      1. Yeh hair and nails definitely grow faster during summer but it seems to fall more for me. Maybe its sunburn to the scalp which is causing the loss

  29. Does anyone think hair loss could be triggered by acne medications such as ampicilin? I know it is correlated with accutane but how about ampicilin?

    1. I think the opposite. The only time my hair stops completely shedding and i am talking maybe 1 or 2 hairs falling when showering is when i am using retin a with my minoxidil. Retin a is an acne medication. I think there is something like 5 variations of retin a. Not just tretinoin.

    1. I have been taking a type 1 and type 3 collagen powder. About 10grams a day. Its has 19 amino acids. I will find a link

  30. This is OLD News but it does show that Christiano is during further tests of JAK for normal pattern hairloss. It might be why it was delayed by Aclaris. They must be working together and my guess is Christiano is trying to perfect the best possible drug and delivery method for Aclaris – just a guess. It means if Alcaris proceeds with Phase 1 for AGA then they must have a good chance of it working.

    ‘”Prof. Christiano and team plan to expand their studies to include testing JAK inhibitors in other conditions and pattern baldness. “We expect JAK inhibitors to have widespread utility across many forms of hair loss based on their mechanism of action in both the hair follicle and immune cells,” she added.’

  31. I did a course of accurate (isotretinoin) that is used to treat acne, my hair almost stopped shedding during the 6 month course (very minimal shedding to be fair)
    Just thought of mentioning this to help out the community

      1. Faz that is crazy – I was going to post something about that myself.

        I did high dose accutane for six months at age 18 and actually had the TE shed. Lost a bit of hair. Acne came back a little later when I stopped. Got put on low dose accutane for about a year. Hair never looked better than when I was on it. No scalp itch, no hair loss. It was super thick. I always had nice hair around then, but i think it was when I really was starting the balding process, and the accutane helped me hold it for a while longer. Idk maybe im wrong. But even looking in pictures it looked so much thicker and darker the year I was on low dose than it ever did before.

        FYI – accutane also has anti inflammatory properties.

        1. was on accutane 3 times. It reduced sebum production MAINLY and also changes/alters your pores somehow…it’s the coolest drug I’ve ever taken as in it actually does something. Pretty sure it is not an anti inflammatory though, it actually gives some people chrons disease (dont know how it’s spelled…) and can cause kidney problems I think or something, hence always having to get your blood work taken every few weeks

          1. btw, Sebum in your scalp or whatever mixing with DHT crap leads to baldness…I think. Staying on accutane long term is not an option though, it’s a risky drug and high doses of vitamin A (accutane is a derivative) can make you go insane.

  32. I hate to sound negative but I’ve been following this site for over five years and this is my first comment ever. I told myself when looking at this site maybe 6 years ago that the cure was 5 years away. We are rapidly approaching the 2020 deadline and still no progress just more snake oil and more dead end studies. I told myself after college they will find a cure, after the military they will find a cure now I’m in graduate school and I’m saying the likelihood of finding a cure is extremely marginal. I don’t want to post something negative but after reading this site for many, many years I’ve lost hope. I’m not saying I will stop visiting this site. What I am saying is that pharmaticual companies rather have us in their pockets rather then put out a cure. I still remember reading an article about how hair cloning, hair multiplication was only 4 years away and that was in 2010. It’s all smoke and mirrors and we’re all the victims. Sorry for sounding negative but thats just the reality.

    1. No problem in negative comments as long as they are not repetitive or sarcastic.

      The worst offenders are those who say no cure will come till 2030 yet still visit daily.

      FYI — this blog is 3 years and 9 months old. You must have been visiting other places before.

      Also, 2014-2016 were phenomenal in terms of new discoveries or announcements (biggest two developments were Tsuji team announcements and JAKs essentially curing AA for many people). So the optimism was unwarranted for sure. This year is a bit slower, but these latest two discoveries seem pretty significant.

      1. Ive been following this blog for about two years now and I can honestly say I think we’re edging ever so closely to a cure. And these new discoveries aren’t those false flag cures that come and go, these are actual scientific studies conducted to bring us to the cure. All we need to do is stay positive. And thanks admin for bringing these interesting finds to our attention!!

      2. Actually your website is right. Hairloss cure by 2020 and that is true for AA type hair loss suffers (wish I was one of them). But for Normal Pattern Hairloss we are still waiting but hopefully we are next in line.

    2. I hear you brother. And i feel the same. I have been waiting for a cure for a decade now. Every time something with a semblance of a cure shows up on the internet my eyes light up. When they showed JAK inhibitor before after pictures, for about 10 mins I thought they finally did it, and then i realized its only for AA.

      And then there are days I feel so much despair and then I turn to this blog and try to grasp a glimmer of hope.

      I dont think cure is nearby. I have gotten a hair translant done, so i had a good long conversation with the surgeon, and he had the same thoughts. He said a new follicle generation is a super complex process so thats not going to be unraveled anytime soon. Solutions that can do some sort of movement of follicles or multiplication of follicles are the ones that seem practical, but he said the stem cell hair never turns into a full grown hair, it remains like one of those minuscule hair that we cant see with naked eye.

      Once I thought why cant we do a ‘ice bucket challenge’ for hair loss. Invite all the bald people on the planet to make this a thing.
      -:)
      But I realize hairloss is not a life threatening disease. Its just life deflating. -:(

    1. They all look like thinning hair bald Indians. What a waste of big $. Maybe with unlimited FUE donor TPay actually look good.

  33. Just to add to the questionnaire, here is my case.

    Age: 18
    Balding: Above temple areas (NW 2.5)
    Pain: Burning sensation sometimes on crown
    Itch: Massive itching in balding areas/temples (been really bad since this month), it’s been keeping me up at night
    Shedding: To my knowledge I don’t shed that many hairs
    Dandruff: Yes, mostly in my forelock

    So quite interesting to here that most diffuse thinners don’t experience any itching or burning, and that receders more often do.

  34. I wouldn’t trust an ht doctor opinion when it comes to cures for hair loss. They are in business due to the fact current treatments don’t work well enough. I’m pretty confident we will see some new effective treatments coming out before 2020. Ht docs want you to think nothing will come out for 20 years etc so you rush and get an fue. Can’t blame them for lying. If they said hair cloning or follica is coming out in 2 years you would most likely not get the fue and wait it out. My personal belief is that they already know how to cure hsirloss. Money is in treatments not cures. Treatments like replicel that stops further loss and treatments like follica that can griw 100cm2 worth of hair are treatments that I see being next generation and coming out very soon to replace Rogaine and Propecia. Jak theorically should be the cure. It can kick start growth for A A it should do the same for aga. Inflammation is a huge part of aga. My scalp would burn and itch from dht inflammation non stop before hopping on fin. Anyways fingers crossed we get at least follica in 2018.

    1. @mjones, Don’t generalize. Not all transplant surgeons are alike. Do I like transplanting hair? For sure–it’s a blast, I enjoy it, and my patients get a huge boost from restoring their hair. However, in my hair restoration clinic, the vast majority of my patients I see in consultation each year will likely never need a hair transplant because of our robust protocols for hair loss management. If you maintain our prescribed regimen AND get HairCheck trichometry measurements routinely, you can be sure you are keeping the hair you have. If you need transplant, with the regimens we use you’ll need less transplants in the long run AND your results will look better for longer. I consider my job to be a Hair Restoration Physician, not just a surgeon, and we take a patient-centered approach–what is best for you the patient is best for us. Sincerely, Dr. Alan J. Bauman, M.D.

      1. Dr. Alan Bauman. In my honest opinion @mjones is right.
        It is not logical that we are almost 2018 and we do not have a more secure alterative than Finasteride. This makes the industry of hair loss backward and without resources.

        J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2017 Jul; 171: 229-235. Doi: 10.1016 / j.jsbmb.2017.04.003. Epub 2017 April 10.
        Neuroactive steroid levels and psychiatric and andrological characteristics in post-finasteride patients. (SPF) is real.

        https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316025454_Neuroactive_steroid_levels_and_psychiatric_and_andrological_features_in_post-finasteride_patients

        Study in 2017 There is more relationship between Finasteride and neurological side effects.

        I think seriously, we need a new treatment urgently.

        Paul Pheonix.

        1. @Paul, I agree that we need new treatments. That’s why we’ve moved to powerful compounded minoxidil topicals like 82M and 82F (which has finasteride), powerful/portable/hands-free lasers, PRP+ECM like BioD over ACell, and adipose derived stem cells and stromal tissue is ongoing. What I don’t agree with is the statement, “don’t trust a ht doctor when it comes to cures for hair loss.” –Dr Alan Bauman

      2. Dr. Bauman thanks for your first ever comment on here!

        But you picked the wrong guy to respond to:-)

        “mjones” is alternatively positive and negative about a cure and most other issues every few months. e.g., in one recent comment he said 90 percent of hair transplants fail…then in another he said he would get a hair transplant.

        You could say he is the “Joe from Staten Island” of this blog.

        1. @Admin, No worries, I’m actually one of a handful of doctors who has had the chance to examine Joe from SI! I don’t blame mjones or anyone for being skeptical about hair loss treatments and providers–especially with all the new doctors entering the field with little experience and training as well as products with little science or research behind them.
          We all need to look at the science and facts but also keep an open mind as physicians to what is possible. What I’ve learned in 20+ years is that there’s no substitute for experience when it comes to a new technique or treatment.
          Keep up the great work with your blog!
          Regards,
          Dr. Alan Bauman

  35. Two things, one likely to have no real relevant info and the other possibly interesting.

    First up this

    http://wsw.com/webcast/jeff105/register.aspx?conf=jeff105&page=prtc&url=http://wsw.com/webcast/jeff105/prtc/index.aspx

    I haven’t looked at this yet but it appears all you need to do is sign in. This took place recently.

    The second piece of info is more a puzzling one.

    On the LSE, the news for Puretech is now blank and has been for at least a week now.

    http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html?nameCodeText=PRTC&searchType=searchForNameCode&nameCode=PRTC&text=&rnsSubmitButton=Search&activatedFilters=false&newsSource=ALL&mostRead=&headlineCode=NONE&headlineId=&ftseIndex=&sectorCode=&rbDate=range&preDate=customizable&from=24%2F05%2F2015&newsPerPage=100

    Follica up to something (like that optimisation trial maybe??)

    Then again, could be nothing.

      1. I bet that that they will show old same old same. Number that show nothing with same picture from last year AA. And the promessa os new “funds” and “finds” in AGA.

  36. Admin or anyone heard of hairstetics implant system.??..its probably old news here but id try it if it looked ok

  37. There are around 50 million people who suffer from baldness in the US if each of us would pitch in $20 we would raise $1Bn that probably should do it. Funny how that is simultainiously super simple and imposible

    1. Because the cure seems close within our reach I think it would be a good idea to start working on making this accessible to everyone. And I mean money wise :D

  38. I had a dream last night …. in the dream the hairloss cure has been invented … a real one … and all of us have thrown a party .. .. and all of us have fabulous thick hair …. every one of us has done a good haircut that they always wanted to do but couldn’t …. anyways in the dream we are looking at each other and we have this smile on our faces .. this smirk …… as if we were a species on the edge of extinction … or a small town about to be destroyed by some evil war .. and we collectively have saved ourselves …. and now we cant stop smiling and laughing …. and we are getting drunk and so forth … and we are sort of thanking the admin whole heartedly for doing all of this ….

    1. lol…suprised that hasn’t happened to me yet, although I think that I read in the past that we tend to forget most of our dreams upon waking up.

  39. first of all sorry for bad English. I’m 19 and I have hair loss since 16. I have tried novophane that helped me a bit but generally, hair loss did not stop. in January 2017 I had prp + acell injected in my head and again 0 result. that kills my hope for the future. now i see news about hair loss and again it is effective especially for AA. IDK what is going to happen but I wish scientists will figure it out as soon as possible. btw anyone had prp + acell injection?

    1. Uzeir.

      I’ll answer you as honestly as possible. At this moment there is no cure. Just a treatment. That can give you worst poblems in life. Don’t take it. Ppl say propecia stop for some years the advance of the alopecia. But how they know the advance if they don’t take it? Talk to your dad and tell you the frustration you have about this problem. Certainly also had it. If your alopecia is very advanced see this micromigmentation. You will look fine and nobudy will know you have It’s. You are still very Young try not to worry. Life is like that It’s something you’ll have to carry for the rest of your life. Like everyone here that you can see we are looking for this little miracle. It can happen for Next year (not the cure um the e marketing) or 10 years from now. No one knows. The best thing you can do is talk to you father. :) Certaly you are a good looking boy and the tru is when you got 20 the girls don’t care if you have alopecia if you are Smart and educated. :)

      1. @Ana
        Should I expect any regrowth from talking to my dad? Or will it at least halt the loss?? And should I speak to him twice a day or do you think once will be enough? Also do you think adding a discussion with my uncle to my stack would help??

    2. Get on finisteride and minoxidil.. don’t waste time on the fringe therapies. Go with the proven science. Some people like to go on about fin being the boogeyman.. it’s not. If you’re one of the unfortunate tiny percentage that gets sides then quit.

  40. According to the new slides from Aclaris, Topical JAKs for AGA is still in the pre-clinical stage. Not much new info, but maybe it will be elaborated in the presentation.

    1. Thanks I saw that too and have wasted over 30 mins waiting for the presentation to start! Delayed a bit it seems. Hopefully someone asks a question about AGA at the end as happened one time last year…

      Their keratosis before and after photos look pretty neat.

      1. They do indeed look great. I myself still have hope in JAKs, they at least have to work a little, enough to prompt full clinical trials.

        NASA, LET’S BOND TOGETHER AND GIVE OUR STRENGTH TO THE JAK OVERLORDS!

  41. Also, this could be completely wrong, not sure if the JAKs for AA are oral or topical, if it’s the first then dismiss this immediatly, but in the AA pictures all the guys grew back 100% of hair, even someone who has lost it for 12 years. It might be that that guy only has AA and not AGA but it’s still cool to see him grow back a full head (since I assume he is somewhere between 40/50s).

    Sorry for rambling, this stuff just gets me (causiously) excited haha.

    1. I have to leave now:-(

      Shady or anyone else, hope you keep waiting to listen to the presentation and post anything useful (most likely, AGA stuff and general questions from the audience will come at the end of presentation).

  42. From the presentation (very rough since I’m not very familiar and wellknown with the science involved):

    – JAKs push hair back into anagen phase
    – Only topical JAKs have an effect on AGA (as we knew)
    – Topical JAKs is now at the formulation stage

    That’s all I’m afraid, atleast what I’ve heard so far. But still promising!

        1. Just the fact that they keep repeating topical JAK inhibitors work for AGA is a very positive sign. Wouldn’t they need to have had some success with AGA in order to make this claim?

          Hopefully the claim is not just based on the fact that oral doesn’t work, so topical is the only hope.

  43. Shady, when they said that hair goes into the anagen stage were they referring to Aga or some other condition?

    1. I think they were referring to the mouse model. So basically it pushed the hair on mice to anagan IIRC.

  44. Thanks for the compliment admin:) lol.

    Anywho…I wonder if the AA patient who saw 100% reversal of hair loss suffered from AGA as well. I bet he did, most guys in their 40s and 50s have some degree of recession. If that is the case with this guy then we have our answer :) JAK hit two birds with one stone.

  45. Mjones why you try to full of yourfelf? We know oral Jak can cure some ppl but when this ppl have aga the hair don’t grow back um the aga region? This have have more than a year and you se it tour self in this blog? I told you that before the before post it here. In alopecia world are many of this cases. Come one!!!

    I hope that some news about that jak thing come to the market to AA but nothing. If this thing work in AA like they say the best thing To US all Aga ppl is to the cure for AA happens because Aga get the focus in this company.

    So topical Jak have 2 years behind of oral Jak in the company. I just want that AA thing to the market só much than “good news about AGA”

  46. My gut feeling and just my gut so don’t go bashing me but I higklhky believe Jak can reverse mpb. The science and the mechanism is there. If it kicks starts miniaturized areata hair back to life that has been dormant for years then why would it not kick start mpb hair back. I mean come on….this mpb can’t be that hard to solve. Jak is it! I agree with nasa. Plus that dude grew back all his hair! That’s crazy! Freaking cured his ass. Lol. The thing is there are no snake oils for AA or other solutions so aclaris can bring this forward to market easier than mpb. There are tons of players in the market who would love to block or try to shelve a working full cure for mpb. Hopefully aclaris will fight them off if they actually have a solid treatment. Praying for it :)

  47. What dude are y’all talking about that grew back all this hair? Was there a new patient that was shown in this latest presentation or are y’all talking about the original patient from 3 years ago?

    And thanks for filling us in on the presentation Shady

  48. Where is this picture of this guy who grew back ALL his hair? Seriously, I want to see it and it better not be that guy who “got his hair back” from AA, but was still a NW3.

    Anyway, I remain unconvinced that JAK is any sort of cure for AGA. They say it “works for” or “has an effect”, but offer no evidence and the terminology they use is deliberately vague. What do either of those sentences MEAN in context, exactly? Does it actually regrow AGA hair? Does it have a finasteride-like effect on hair? Does it just help with grow and do nothing else?

    All of those outcomes satisfies the “it works for AGA” claim because it’s not technically a lie.

    AA and AGA operate in completely different ways. In AA, you still have follicles; in AGA you have follicles that are horribly miniaturized until you don’t have follicles anymore and fibrosis sets in. Simply put: you need to actually grow follicles from the ground up to cure AGA.

    So unless you can apply JAK to the palm of your hand and it will grow hair, there is absolutely no reason to believe JAKs are anywhere near a functional cure for MPB no matter what Neal Walker promises you in interviews until such times as he offers tangible proof otherwise.

    This is just a cope.

    1. Neither a cure nor a cope in my books. I don’t think too many slick bald guys are thinking “this is it!” But I can see it being a superior treatment to what’s available now. Is that so bad?? Realistically I see it restoring a follicle that is no more than 30-40% damaged. After that continually less significant results. Could be a game changer for many and meh for the rest.

  49. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/06/breakthrough-for-the-generation-of-fully-functional-skin-tissue-and-other-tissues-will-follow.html

    Polarity today announced pre-clinical results demonstrating that the Company’s lead product, SkinTE™, regenerated full-thickness, organized skin and hair follicles in third degree burn wounds. The findings represent the first known successful regeneration of skin and hair in full-thickness swine wound models, the standard animal model for human skin. The Company expects to initiate a human clinical trial evaluating the autologous homologous SkinTE™ construct in the third quarter of 2017.

    In pre-clinical models of full-thickness burns and wounds, SkinTE™ demonstrated scar-less healing, hair follicle growth, immediate complete wound coverage, and the progressive regeneration of all skin layers including epidermis, dermis and hypodermal layers (www.polarityte.com/products/skinte). The SkinTE™ product, which utilizes the subject’s own skin, is prepared and used to treat the wound in less than 24 hours

    CREDIT TO C_SUPER2 on HLT

    it reminds me the guy who regrew a full head of hair after having burned his bald scalp by accident.

    It also stands for Follicà’ s approach, i think wounding is something big in this fight against hair loss.

    Lets hope this new actor in the field accelerate the research about wounding and hairloss. Eager to have more info on how it works. They set up a potential human trial as soon as Q3 2017 while they are totally new, looks like they are quite confident and thy say the treatments potentially lasts only 24h, looks like we will have an answer in a few months only.

    Only hopes now but will see

    Good luck everyone

    1. Wow this is incredible! Thanks for sharing. Also MARKET ENTRY H1 2018!! This makes me tempted to stick my head in the oven…

      1. @Mike: Great find! Q1 2018 New treatment. That’s logic and normal. The demand for a new treatment for MPB is HUGE.

  50. Where else have we seen a 100% grow back of hair? No where except JAK. It wakes up hair follicle cells that have been dormant for decades and grows perfectly natural hair.

    Before JAK they said once a hair follicle was lost it was like watering a dead plant that it would be impossible to regrow it.

    There is not anything close to JAK. And now we here the same thing again. That JAK can work AA but it will never work on AGA. Freak’ them. They are wrong again!

    Right now our best chance by a long shot is Aclaris. I am watching their pipeline like a hawk for phase one JAK topical for normal pattern hair loss. We are getting very close. Probably by year end they will start that trial and we may just wind up with the treatment. Finally, FINALLY.

    1. how can you be confidence in JAK? AGA and AA are not same…although JAK works for AGA, we wait for long time till it approved…

      we don’t know when their trual begin…

  51. Yeah, but if jaks in clinic trials then youll know the right dosage and everything about it so you can begin to apply it on yoursef even before its approved. Look at people with aa, theyre already using it, its not approved for that condition too. The only problem will be the long term side effects but who cares if you cannot grow your hair in your youth.

  52. mjones

    Oral Jak don’t work for Aga. Ppl got horseshore hair….
    Jak oral or topical never was tested in AGA until today. Not even in mouses…..
    You need to think that the Jak aga thing is only to get stoker more exited! This things happens!
    Will need to wait and hope that will work but are zero evidencie that it will.

    And more important. Oral Jak work for AA os true but in some cases other thing restore full head of hair in AA like asteroids.
    The hair do follicle in Areata are not destroyed like Aga . Hair follicle in Areata are not dormant or miniturized . Just the body send signal to not produce hair.
    Aga the follicle is miniturized and “damege” to the point to not produce hair.

    AA is because the body Aga is because the organ (follicle).

    Diferente things.

    The best that can happen to us aga will be to go out to the market as soon as possible. This will only make the whole industrial center in Aga. The worst is how long will it take to get out? Will it be before 2020? hope so.

  53. There is topical tofacitinib cream as an ad at the bottom of this page for AA. Anyone try using it? Probably won’t do jack – no pun intended, but could be worth a try.

  54. We have sncillary evidence that JAK can work. Remember the Beno guys and campfire guy. They had male pattern hairloss for decades YET they regret their hair. Thus do not say we have damaged hair follicles and that we cannot regrow hair. It has already been done. Brno guy grew hair as thick on top of his head as it was on the side of his head and he was 70 years old.

    Wake up. Hair has already grown on AGA on several horse shoe pattern guys to where they had full set of hair. This the pillar muscle must reconnect.

    JAK is the treatment just need right one maybe a coco pound along with it and the right mechanism to get it to the right skin level.

    Again, AGA men have ALREADY regrow not hair. Now our pushing the industry is getting them moving in the right direction. Aclaris will solve it.

    Nasa_rs

  55. Ana you are worse than me when it’s come to pessimism. At least nasa is boosting some hope on actual factual evidence. I agree with him on jak. It must work and if it doesn’t it’s because theu will tweak to make it less effective. So please stop posting depressing sht on this site. It’s bad enough we all have sad moments due to our hair you don’t need to come in here and make it worse.

  56. guys, I didn’t know that there isn’t a solution for AA. cuz majority of people grow most of their hair. I guess if scientists find miracle solution for AGA then AA problem will be solved too bcuz AGA problem is more complicated

  57. Questionnaire;

    Age: 19
    Balding: Hairline NW 2
    Pain: Burning sensation on corners of hairline
    Itch: Quite bad sometimes all over crown although not as bad now.
    Shedding: Couple years ago was shedding profusely on my crown
    Dandruff: Before I started shedding I had a lot of dandruff

    Ps usually after feeling that burning senstaion ceased I would notice the shedding would happen at the same exact spot. Hope this helps.

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