Is Gene Therapy a Solution for Hair Loss?
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010In the past 30 years, alternate types of therapy for enhancing wound repair have been mentioned. For this entry, I wanted to talk about the cutting-edge areas of stem cell therapy and gene therapy in wound healing. When it comes to gene therapy, it was first put into practice for treating congenital defects. Now, it is a fresh alternative for affecting wound repair. To speed up the process of wound closure, genes encoded for growth factors or cytokines revealed the greatest potential.
Most gene delivery systems have roots in viral transfection, naked DNA application, high pressure injection, or liposomal vectors. Embryonic and adult stem cells posses an extended self-renewal ability with the capacity to differentiate into various tissue types. Different types of sources, such as bone marrow, peripheral blood, umbilical cord blood, adipose tissue, skin and hair follicles, have been used to separate stem cells to speed up the healing response of acute and chronic wounds.
Not too long ago, the grouping of gene and stem cell therapy has come to the forefront as a potential option to care for chronic and acute wounds.
For potential hair transplant patients, this breaking development about gene and stem cell therapy in hair restoration is fantastic news because a rapid healing from stitches in the donor area would make for a much quicker and painless procedure. There are all kinds of different types of hair loss, but, if a hair loss sufferer undergoes a hair transplant, it would be imperative that his stitches would heal quickly.
Source information was provided by the following authors: Branski LK, Gauglitz GG, Herndon DN, Jeschke MG.
Department of Surgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospitals for Children, Galveston, TX 77550, United States.