Derivation of Hair-Inducing Cell from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

[Bald Russian]

Ksenia Gnedeva, Ekaterina Vorotelyak, Vasiliy V. Terskikh & Alexey V. Terskikh.

Oh they are russian, i found their phone numbers, should i ask something about human trials?

[joachim]

Oh they are russian, i found their phone numbers, should i ask something about human trials?

what? you're able to simply get them on the phone?
if so, it would indeed be interesting to get so further information.
if i understood correctly, we can't get ESC cells (embryonic stem cells) from a person. so the only way is to do it with iPS cells (pluripotent stem cells) which can be made from skin fibroblast cells, individually from patient to patient. as the study mentions iPS cells showed they are not that efficient like ESC but still able to induce hair. you simply have to create multiple times more iPS cells to overcome the efficacy issue. however, proof of concept is done, and the study shows it's possible to induce denovo hair with iPS cells, so we're really talking about brand new hair derived from multiplied stem cells. the tests were done with human cells but in mouse skin. they always do it this way. it's likely that the same effect will occur in human scalp too and now it's time to test that once and for all.

so, some questions from my side would be:

first of all, how do we create the iPS cells from a persons skin cells? do we still need genetic editing or some special and maybe illegal medical tricks to create such cells? in other words: are there still issues to be solved to get the required iPS cells? if so, what are these and what are the next steps to figure them out?

if the iPS cells can be created without any problems for each patient individually, what stops us to make a proof of concept trial with real humans? what are the next steps and what's holding us back? we already know that efficacy is not the best but is it still possible to see 1 single hair growing on a bald scalp with their technique? the study clearly suggests YES!!! so why not test it immediately? the efficacy issues can be figured out at a later point. we just want to see that de-novo hair formation in bald scalp IS a reality in the first place. not in mice!

thanks

[hellouser]

Please take a seat and read up on why they test things on mice. Thanks

Only if you tell me why all research ends with mice and nothing applicable is done afterwards.

[Bald Russian]

what? you're able to simply get them on the phone?

Yep, just found their institute and there is list of working stuff with phone numbers.
But i think to gather all questions together to not disturb many times for every single question. So i'm awaiting for another questions for some time and then i will do a phone call.

so, some questions from my side would be:

first of all, how do we create the iPS cells from a persons skin cells? do we still need genetic editing or some special and maybe illegal medical tricks to create such cells? in other words: are there still issues to be solved to get the required iPS cells? if so, what are these and what are the next steps to figure them out?

if the iPS cells can be created without any problems for each patient individually, what stops us to make a proof of concept trial with real humans? what are the next steps and what's holding us back? we already know that efficacy is not the best but is it still possible to see 1 single hair growing on a bald scalp with their technique? the study clearly suggests YES!!! so why not test it immediately? the efficacy issues can be figured out at a later point. we just want to see that de-novo hair formation in bald scalp IS a reality in the first place. not in mice!

thanks

Accepted.

---
To say truth, i'm pretty excited that they are russian. Because if they can make new hair, then my problem is solved. Many hard questions like FDA approval, here can be solved with solid package of money. I can try offer some sponsorship for a "personal human trial". That is possible because i know that government do not support to scientists in my country (i know because i'm chemist-engineer), they are always poor and projects suffer by hard deficit of money. That can be a key. I will pay any amount of money for good hair. And money can close their eyes for illegal side of law.

[bboy5]

Can someone explain to me why this isn't the cure? Hasn't maintaining DP cell inductivity in culture been the holy grail for the past 15 years? And now have it, don't we?. From some quick research it seems iPS cells can be made from your urine. It seems this only has about 4% efficiency, but does that really matter? What is it I'm missing that's stopping everyone going wild over this?

[Illusion]

Can someone explain to me why this isn't the cure? Hasn't maintaining DP cell inductivity in culture been the holy grail for the past 15 years? And now have it, don't we?. From some quick research it seems iPS cells can be made from your urine. It seems this only has about 4% efficiency, but does that really matter? What is it I'm missing that's stopping everyone going wild over this?

Probably the fact that this won't be available for treatment until 2025 or something. If that's not the reason, then I don't know what is

[hellouser]

Probably the fact that this won't be available for treatment until 2025 or something. If that's not the reason, then I don't know what is

5 years... 10 years... 20 years. All these projections are so bogus. What does 10 years time accomplish that 5 years or 2 years couldnt? What is the REAL reason behind the slow progress? If a potential cure is out, why does it ALWAYS end up as 'vaporware'

[joachim]

Can someone explain to me why this isn't the cure? Hasn't maintaining DP cell inductivity in culture been the holy grail for the past 15 years? And now have it, don't we?. From some quick research it seems iPS cells can be made from your urine. It seems this only has about 4% efficiency, but does that really matter? What is it I'm missing that's stopping everyone going wild over this?

exactly. maintaining DP cell properties during multiplication has been the hurdle all the time. and now that a solution through iPS cells gets revealed, nobody cares about iit. how crazy is that. yes, efficacy is not perfect, as the study points out, but as they can be multiplied limitless the efficacy point is no showstopper. it's probably about pricing, when you have to culture more cell lines to get the same yield.
but we need someone who replicates this and tries to implant it in human scalp. if it then is proven that it works, then we are almost done. otherwise we will only see some fu**ckin mouse studies during the next 10 years. we now really need someone who catches up on that idea and goes one step further.

[joachim]

Probably the fact that this won't be available for treatment until 2025 or something. If that's not the reason, then I don't know what is

if someone takes this discovery serious it can be tested and offered much sooner in japan. who cares about FDA and other organizations anymore?

[hellouser]

if someone takes this discovery serious it can be tested and offered much sooner in japan. who cares about FDA and other organizations anymore?

None of us should be expecting anything from USA. My money will NOT be seen in american clinics.