Dr Aaron Gardner's Research (2014)

[Desmond84]

Hey guys, thought we should discuss Dr Gardner's work a bit more in depth being one of the most important talks at the conference. He presented 2 studies of his at the conference, one is related to wound healing and the other is DP induction. Here are the actual presentations if you haven't seen them yet:

Dermal-Epidermal Interactions in 3D Culture Restore Markers of DP Inductivity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-u_L3ohE68

Follicular Dermal Cells As Potential Contributors to Enhanced Wound Resolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3izyv3ixKrA

His first presentation is really fascinating. What they are doing is going down a list and adding a specific growth factor to see if it retains the inductivity of DP cells. They then take note of the results and will add combination of growth factors that were 'hits'...fascinating stuff. It will take time to try out all the combinations, but the outcome is the key to hair regeneration. That is why he was not keen on giving a timeline on how long it will take, since they may find the right ****tail of growth factors within the next 12 months or might take 2-3 years! Hope that explains what's going on in the presentation a bit better

As for his second presentation, he has realised that type 2-macrophages play a huge role in wound healing and hair regeneration! There's still a lot more work to be done on the macrophage theory but nevertheless it is fascinating!

[hgs1989]

Interesting work with growth factors, but isn't histogen basically a ****tail of growth factors and wnts. There is already some data on the effect of different fibroblast Gfs on hair growth. this paper for example has great data, http://www.eksid.com/online/pdf/4-2-103.pdf. are they trying to find the best ****tail of growth factors and applying it as treatment for hair regrowth, or are theytrying to develop a fully functional follicle with the addition of growth factors ?

[cthulhu2]

Interesting work with growth factors, but isn't histogen basically a ****tail of growth factors and wnts. There is already some data on the effect of different fibroblast Gfs on hair growth. this paper for example has great data, http://www.eksid.com/online/pdf/4-2-103.pdf. are they trying to find the best ****tail of growth factors and applying it as treatment for hair regrowth, or are theytrying to develop a fully functional follicle with the addition of growth factors ?

I believe injecting growth factors would definitely help with hair growth but that is not the issue. Many of these growth factors and specifically fgf9 which was studied by follica, is heavily involved in the growth of cancers.

[hellouser]

Many of these growth factors and specifically fgf9 which was studied by follica, is heavily involved in the growth of cancers.

Source?

[cthulhu2]

Source?

Expression of fibroblast growth factor 9 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer.
Ohgino K1, Soejima K2, Yasuda H1, Hayashi Y3, Hamamoto J1, Naoki K1, Arai D1, Ishioka K1, Sato T1, Terai H1, Ikemura S1, Yoda S1, Tani T1, Kuroda A1, Betsuyaku T1.
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 9 is a member of the FGF family, which modulates cell proliferation, differentiation, and motility. Recent studies show that the activation of FGF signals including FGF9 is associated with the pathogenesis of several cancers; however, its clinicopathological and biological significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of NSCLC with FGF9 expression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
We evaluated the expression of FGF9 in resected NSCLC specimens and corresponding non-tumorous lung tissue samples using cDNA microarray and evaluated its clinicopathological characteristics.

RESULTS:
Nine out of 90 NSCLC specimens (10%) had "high" FGF9 expression compared with corresponding non-cancerous lung tissues. Histologically, of the 9 NSCLC specimens with high FGF9 expression, 5 were adenocarcinoma, whereas none were squamous cell carcinoma. FGF9 expression was not associated with sex, smoking history, or clinical stage. However, in patients with high and low FGF9 expression, the postoperative recurrence rates were 78% and 24% (p=0.033), respectively. Overall survival was significantly shorter in patients with high FGF9 expression than in those with low FGF9 expression (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION:
Our data indicate that FGF9 may be a novel unfavorable prognostic indicator and a candidate therapeutic target of NSCLC.

[hellouser]

^WHERE did you find this. What is the SOURCE?

[cthulhu2]

^WHERE did you find this. What is the SOURCE?

pubmed. I also found out about fgf9 and the wnt pathway being involved in cancer from wikipedia.

[hellouser]

pubmed. I also found out about fgf9 and the wnt pathway being involved in cancer from wikipedia.

OMG, why can't you post the link???

[cthulhu2]

OMG, why can't you post the link???

OMG, why can't you just search the title of the study on pubmed???

[Thinning87]

Well when someone posts a claim it's on them to provide a source, how is someone supposed to verify the claims if all you provide is a vague reference to where you have seen something?

[cichlidfort]

OMG, why can't you just search the title of the study on pubmed???

Because it will allow not just HELL but everyone on here thats reading this thread any easy/quick way to verify the source. It's much easier to copy and paste a link then to have everyone on here to scramble to find an unverified source.

Anyways, I doubt they would release a product that's going to cause cancer. There would be massive law suits instantly.

[cthulhu2]

Because it will allow not just HELL but everyone on here thats reading this thread any easy/quick way to verify the source. It's much easier to copy and paste a link then to have everyone on here to scramble to find an unverified source.

Anyways, I doubt they would release a product that's going to cause cancer. There would be massive law suits instantly.

No word on follica releasing a product; I don't know where you heard this. They are on hold right now due to a lack of funding. Personally i dont think its very hard to copy and paste a study title to pubmed, ive done it numerous times when others have posted abstracts.

[hellouser]

OMG, why can't you just search the title of the study on pubmed???

Because its YOUR job to backup your claim, not mine, nor anyone elses reading your claim.

[hgs1989]

I believe injecting growth factors would definitely help with hair growth but that is not the issue. Many of these growth factors and specifically fgf9 which was studied by follica, is heavily involved in the growth of cancers.

you don't need to inject fgf 9. it only helps with wounding when the cells are in embryonic like condition because of the wound and it tell the cells to become hair follicles. IGF-1, vegf, hgf, kgf and PDGF are some of the ones that needed to be applied. and if they were injected to an EXISTING cancer they will help the cancer to spread and proliferate, but will not cause cancer. besides the injection will have local effects on scalp cells. IGF-1 increases with Human growth hormone increase and athletes have been using HGH illegally for an eternity now. the paper I posted shows which growth factor help maintain anagen and delay catagen with IGF-1 prevent follicle cell death that is caused by DHT. Cotsarelis in a papaer titled "Towards a molecular understanding of hair loss and its treatment" sees growth factors as a great potential in hair loss treatment by delaying catagen and maintin anagen pahse . a qouate from the paper "the goals for treating androgenetic alopecia include prolonging anagen, converting telogen follicles to anagen, reversing miniaturization and possibly generating new follicles." also growth factors have been used in wrinkles treatment for a while now as injections and as topical creams. the chances of growth factors causing cancers or worsen an existing one is slim I guess. it is like smoking, it is been known to cause cancer but you see those who smoke and live healthier and longer than those who don't. it is all in the genes.example, why Caucasians have more risk of skin cancer when they are under the sun ? A skinny person can get diabetes if he is exposed to too much sugar and there are fat people with out diabetes. again , it is all in the genes. Growth factors makes me optimistic about prp but the problem is the their concentration is low I guess and repeated injections are very expensive and prp can cause undesirable swelling if much is injected. DHT binds to your cells and then they express TGF beta -1 that causes the hair follicle cells to undergo programmed death. so I assume injecting TGF beta -1 which is also contained in prp injections will kill your cells. maybe better techniques to isolate the desirable growth factors and inject them or as histogen does by culturing cells and producing them commercially.
Dr Aaron him self ;when I asked him; said that growth factors will help but they will also have effect on the surrounding cells.Desmond Can enlighten us more on this since all I understand and write here is from reading research papers. it is not my field of study.

[cthulhu2]

Because its YOUR job to backup your claim, not mine, nor anyone elses reading your claim.

I deemed it unnecessary to include the reference since I am not claiming anything new. We have knows for decades that growth factors are involved in the incidence of cancers. Here is another example, IGF-1, which also is involved in hairgrowth.

Oncology. 2002;63(4):317-32.
The role of the IGF system in cancer: from basic to clinical studies and clinical applications.
Moschos SJ1, Mantzoros CS.
Author information
Abstract
Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are important mediators of growth, development, and survival, are synthesized by almost any tissue in the body, and their action is modulated by a complex network of molecules, including binding proteins, proteases and receptors, which all comprise the IGF system. Evidence from in vitro and animal studies suggests that overexpression of IGFs by cancer cells and/or the nearby stroma as well as the type IGF-I receptor by the cancer cells may play a significant role in establishing a transformed phenotype in an increasing number of malignancies. More specifically, IGFs may promote cell cycle progression and inhibition of apoptosis either by directly associating with other growth factors or indirectly by interacting with other molecular systems which have an established role in carcinogenesis and cancer promotion, such as the steroid hormones and integrins. In addition, a growing number of epidemiologic studies suggest that increased serum levels of IGFs and/or altered levels of their binding proteins are associated with increased risk for developing several malignancies. These data indicate that IGF dysregulation should now be considered as an important independent factor for cancer risk, and a potential target for novel antineoplastic therapies and/or preventative strategies in high-risk groups.