Hair Regeneration and Rejuvenation: Pipeline of Medical and Technical Strategies

Abstract

Introduction: The original discovery of the hair neogenesis ability of adult mouse dermal follicular cells sparked a great interest in developing an alternative therapeutic product for hair loss especially for androgenetic alopecia. While significant research has been conducted to understand fundamental processes such as hair follicle morphogenesis, cycling, and regeneration, there is currently no cell therapy in the market as a treatment for androgenetic alopecia. In this chapter, we discuss the medical and technical strategies that have changed over the years to treat androgenetic alopecia by utilising follicular cells, in particular, the dermal papilla and dermal sheath. Methods: We used Pubmed database to select published literature with keywords such as androgenetic alopecia, cell therapy, hair regeneration and hair rejuvenation. Results: Hair follicle dermal papilla and dermal sheath cells possess inductive ability to create new hair follicles. Clinical trials in the early 2000s was conducted by Intercytex and Aderans Research Institute to evaluate the efficacy of using follicular cells for hair regeneration as a treatment for androgenetic alopecia; however, although some hair neogenesis was observed, the trails failed to show expected cosmetic efficacy. Currently, the focus has moved away from regeneration and instead companies developing a cell therapy for androgenetic alopecia are focusing on rejuvenation of existing, miniaturising hair follicles. Conclusions: There is a clear need for alternative treatments for androgenetic alopecia and cell therapies using dermal papilla and dermal sheath cells show potential to reverse hair follicle miniaturisation.KeywordsAndrogenetic alopeciaCell therapyDermal papillaDermal sheathHair regenerationHair rejuvenationHair follicle miniaturisation