First Study to Convert Adult Human Cells to Hair-Follicle-Generating Stem Cells

[jgold]

UK, you suck.

[southern]

Clinical trials

Even if they nailed the DP cells, its gene therapy, so it'd need a 15 year long clinical trial and an added 5 years of product development before it even reached market.

We're 30-50 years away from a better treatment folks, time to accept baldness and move on unless you want to chemically castrate yourself, which, in all honesty, isnt for me, as I've been there & would never want to go down that road again.

Clinical trials in Japan shouldn't take that long with their new Regenerative Medicina Law. This is great news! I agree with Arashi and Desmond when they say we're really close to a solution. I already posted this in the Tsuji Lab thread:

"it will be possible to get a stem cell treatment to market in just three years, rather than the typical six or more"

http://www.stempeutics.com/pdf/japan.pdf

Explanation of the new system by Dr. Toshio Miyata:

http://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/39710

[greatjob!]

Even if they nailed the DP cells, its gene therapy, so it'd need a 15 year long clinical trial and an added 5 years of product development before it even reached market.

We're 30-50 years away from a better treatment folks, time to accept baldness and move on unless you want to chemically castrate yourself, which, in all honesty, isnt for me, as I've been there & would never want to go down that road again.

No it's nothing like gene therapy

[The Alchemist]

UK, you suck.

UK is the only person in this thread demonstrating an understanding of the time frame involved with going from basic research to a commercial product.

If they had a protocol to generate a perfect hair ready to go right now, it'd take 8-10 years to get through clinical trials. They are not at that point yet and are probably looking at a few more years (minimum) of basic research before they even think of starting clinical trials. There is no way around that fact.

[Desmond84]

Until we see doctors regenerating severed fingers for patients in ER baldness will never be cured, the hair follicle is one of the most complex organs in the human body.

Actually if you go on a lot of stem cell blogs ran by scientists in the field (e.g. ipscell.com) many of them believe generating hair follicles should be at the forefront of stem cell research, since it is a simpler organ than say a liver and if successful will show society the potentials of regenerative medicine and provide enough hype to inject sufficient funds to create much more complex organs such as liver and kidney! There is a kind of consensus among them which is VERY surprising...So, don't rule out a shift toward generating hair follicles to begin with prior to say a kidney or a heart!

I think DP cell expansion problem may be cracked within the next 12-24 months...if you put the breakthroughs in a graph, the "Law of accelerating returns" is definitely at play here and we are sitting on top of a very steep line of discoveries and advancements in the field of hair loss research. Like Arashi said, we are half a step away from unlimited DHT-resistant hair regeneration. That half a step involves completing Dr Jahoda/Christiano's work by expanding fully functional dermal papillae cells in culture.

As for the timeline, Japanese lawmakers have made it much easier to bring a stem cell-based therapy like this one onto the market. You only need 3 years of human trials and your product is marketable! TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if this technology beat Histogen and Replicel to the finish line.

[Desmond84]

UK is the only person in this thread demonstrating an understanding of the time frame involved with going from basic research to a commercial product.

If they had a protocol to generate a perfect hair ready to go right now, it'd take 8-10 years to get through clinical trials. They are not at that point yet and are probably looking at a few more years (minimum) of basic research before they even think of starting clinical trials. There is no way around that fact.

Ever since the Tsuji lab paper was published, we all knew that this type of technology which is truly the ultimate cure will not be in our grasp until at least 2022. What we should be focusing on is whether this estimated timeline is still valid exactly 2 years after this paper was published and the answer is YES.

Tsuji lab used two cell lines to generate hair follicles:
1) Epithelial stem cells
2) Dermal papillae (DP)

In 2013, Dr Jahoda/Christiano managed to expand DP cells in culture for the first time ever albeit more work is still required.

In 2014, Dr Xu/Yang/Cotsarelis (today) have managed to expand fully functional epithelial stem cells in culture!

We are still 8 years away from the actual timeline and most of the work is done! And don't forget human trials in Japan will no longer take 8-10 years but a mere 3 years. So, today definitely calls for a celebration as we now know that we are definitely on track and possibly ahead of schedule

[HairBane]

We should be celebrating the progress, not whinging about how long it'll take before we can utilise it.

We should look at this as a kind of 'ultimate solution' - at least we know it's in the pipeline. Even if it's 20 years away (and I doubt it will take that long - take into account exponential progress in stem cell and gene therapy, plus hopefully a revolution in clinical trials), it's nice to know there's more than just a theoretical possibility of a full cure.

Don't look at it as 'I'll be miserable up until a 100% complete solution is available 15 years from now'. Things will improve along the way as our knowledge and understanding of hair loss progresses. There are plenty of bridging solutions like powerful topical anti-androgens, Histogen's HSC and Replicel that will all help to provide us with maintenance and regrowth. I'd bet that by the time a full solution is released, most of us won't even care thanks to progress along the way.

[hellouser]

We should be celebrating the progress, not whinging about how long it'll take before we can utilise it.

To be fair, some of us will die before a product gets release and so many have waited so long, being robbed of their identity and then ultimately their life as well. Pretty terrible way to go out... living a gimped life and have your head filled with bullshit promises by all these pseudodoctors. A lot of these people have every right to be pissed.

[HairBane]

To be fair, some of us will die before a product gets release and so many have waited so long, being robbed of their identity and then ultimately their life as well. Pretty terrible way to go out... living a gimped life and have your head filled with bullshit promises by all these pseudodoctors. A lot of these people have every right to be pissed.

It's just an unfortunate situation though, there's no grand conspiracy that we can direct that anger toward. You and almost everyone on this board will likely be alive to see an improvement in the treatment options available, most of us will still be sub-50 (which will be the new 30 anyway) before a full cure is released, and most of us will never experience total baldness. If we'd been born a just a couple of decades earlier, none of that would be very likely. So it's not all bad.

[hellouser]

It's just an unfortunate situation though, there's no grand conspiracy that we can direct that anger toward. You and almost everyone on this board will likely be alive to see an improvement in the treatment options available, most of us will still be sub-50 (which will be the new 30 anyway) before a full cure is released, and most of us will never experience total baldness. If we'd been born a just a couple of decades earlier, none of that would be very likely. So it's not all bad.

No, its not all bad... but I don't tolerate mediocrity, so it's far from what we should have; full cure or complete solution.

[HairBane]

No, its not all bad... but I don't tolerate mediocrity, so it's far from what we should have; full cure or complete solution.

One day brother. Feeling sad won't get us there faster. The research is coming along at an amazing pace, I have zero doubt it'll be demonstrated soon. If there's an area we should attack to help progress things more quickly, it's the weak link in the chain - the approval process. That, or crowdfunding something.

[hellouser]

One day brother. Feeling sad won't get us there faster. The research is coming along at an amazing pace, I have zero doubt it'll be demonstrated soon. If there's an area we should attack to help progress things more quickly, it's the weak link in the chain - the approval process. That, or crowdfunding something.

Well, I've been bitching about both those things for a quite a while, the FDA's gimping of everything and the crowdfunding idea.. that I can basically guarantee will work *if* we get it done right and if there's a solid team put together.

[deuce]

So I do not understand. The wounding and fg9 theory is out the window?
Follica and Cotsarelis are confusing.

[hellouser]

So I do not understand. The wounding and fg9 theory is out the window?
Follica and Cotsarelis are confusing.

Nowhere did it state that. Why would you assume that?

[Arashi]

If they had a protocol to generate a perfect hair ready to go right now, it'd take 8-10 years to get through clinical trials. They are not at that point yet and are probably looking at a few more years (minimum) of basic research before they even think of starting clinical trials. There is no way around that fact.

So, why are you even here ? If you don't care about a cure being found, then why even visit these forums ?

A lot of other people actually DO care about that. I for one will pop the champagne if they succeed at that last part of the quest. Sure, it will take 8-10 years before it's available in the Western world, the day after a cure is found. But I'm sure it will go faster in Japan, with their fast track. Also, for the real daredevils who don't want to wait for clinical tests, there surely will be even other options, once research is published on how to do this, that's a sure thing too.