As Seen In
Chief Scientist Dr. Kevin McElwee Interviewed In Barcelona Article at Eldiariomontanes.es
12 years ago
Jul 04, 2012 
(English Translation)
Injected hair stem cells are emerging as the most effective therapy against baldness
EFE News
Barcelona, June 22 (EFE).
Canadian scientists have been able to grow hair in bald individuals through implantation of hair stem cells, a pioneering therapy that experts predict will be most effective against this phenomenon that affects a significant portion of the male population.
After a successful test in mice in 2003, Dr. Kevin McElwee, of the University of British Columbia in Canada, has undertaken, in recent years, the first clinical trial of adult stem cell injections for the treatment of androgenic alopecia (common baldness), the results were presented today in Barcelona.
Canadian researcher have implanted stem cells taken from the back of their heads in 19 balding men, a privileged area which is not affected by hormones that cause other hairs to fall out.
The main characteristic of the stem cells is that they have the ability to regenerate and, therefore, can repair the areas that have lost their hair precisely because such cells have failed to function after reveiving hormonal stimulus.
The results, which were presented today for the first time in Europe as part of the meeting of the European Society of Hair Research held in Barcelona, yielded a maximum regeneration in the area of hair loss of 19%, although the overall average on all subjects was 6%.
In order to increase those percentages, Dr. McElwee explained today at a press conference that a second study in Europe will help increase these results and the company has not ruled out participation by any of the centers is in Barcelona.
For the researcher, University of Barcelona (UB) Ramon Grimalt, president of the Spanish Group of Trichologists said the results, although they may seem low, are “very encouraging” to effectively treat common baldness, which affects 50% of men over 50 years.
In this sense, Grimalt stressed that current treatments-topical, oral and surgical, are very effective but their effect lasts only a very short time.
The technique of implantation of stem cells, with hardly any side effects, could be a turning point because, unlike the others, this treatment attacks the root problem.
It has also been observed in mice that underwent implantation of the hair stem cells that the hair continued to grow until they died.
The problem of androgenic alopecia is that the hair is not falling out but becomes so thin that eventually it disappears as a result of hormonal processes in which they operate; a set of genes and environmental factors that science is investigating.
However, when it is observed that the hair grows it is because the stem cells are still working to regenerate tissue, so the hair will appear.
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