Hope for baldies as mouse grows fur

Jay and Jeff you can take hope from this one.

The British Telegraph reports that bald mice have been made furry again by introducing a gene, marking another step towards developing the long-sought cure for baldness.

The genetically bald mice had the growth of follicles restored by implanting a gene responsible for a protein called Hairless, so named because it makes mice bald when faulty.

In humans and mice with mutations in the Hairless gene, hair growth is initially normal, but once hair is shed, it does not grow back. The mechanisms of how Hairless controls the follicle regeneration cycle are not well understood.

Dr Catherine Thompson and colleagues at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore found that the Hairless protein is normally present in progenitor cells that play a critical role during the rest and early regrowth phases of hair follicles.