Alopecia Universalis Research

Alopecia Universalis Research

Medical condition Alopecia Areata does not cause health problems or scars, but it can be very stressful for the patient who is affected by it. There are many different patterns and ways in which alopecia may be manifested. There are few types of alopecia areata: diffuse alopecia areata, alopecia areata monolocularis, alopecia areata multilocularis, alopecia areata barbae, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. Alopecia Totalis and Universalis are the rarest and the hardest forms of this disease. Alopecia areata totalis is total loss of hair on the scalp and alopecia areata universalis is the loss of hair over the entire scalp and body.

Some people would think that lack of body hair is an esthetic problem, but this condition causes loss of eyelashes, eyebrows and nose hair so you became unprotected from dust, bacteria, sun and many other harmful elements. Many people battle with hair removal, especially women, so they even don’t take into consideration problems that hair loss may cause. Alopecia Universalis may be temporary or remain permanently. It’s always possible that the hair will grow back, even for those with 100% hair loss over many years, but it is not possible to predict when regrowth will occur.

Health of the people affected with alopecia is not harmed in any other way except hair loss, but there is a greater chance to experience thyroid disease and vitiligo than other people, since alopecia is an autoimmune disorder. Alopecia Universalis patients are usually born with some hair, but begin losing it very quickly. The disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait that is caused by a mutation in a gene dubbed HR in chromosome band 8p21.2, which is the human version of the gene that is responsible for hairlessness in mice.

The disease is genetically predetermined and in fact, there was a study about a family affected with alopecia universalis , three consecutive generations had it. Their children had this condition, but were otherwise healthy, without any inflammatory processes that could inhibit hair growth. Research showed very few hair follicles, they were born without eyebrows or eyelashes, without any hair in general and never developed them. This research contained analysis of the chromosomes of seven affected members from the family that had this condition. Everything was done in order to detect any genetic similarities that would show that the disease is genetically predetermined. They found a marker persistent in all seven family members, but they were not able to determine the exact gene that was at this location.

There was also a research that included mice, so that the researches can determine if there is genetic similarity in hairless mice with the ones they found in human. Luckily, they found several examples of alopecia in mice, since they identified a cDNA sequence that gave them the coding sequence of the human "hairless" gene. It appears to encode a zinc-finger transcription factor. The results of the research showed that there is mutation in the "hairless" genes of all the affected individuals in the family that was studied.

Source: Marbo Hair Company