The Cheerful Oncologist

We interrupt this program to bring you this special report:

"Study offers hope of remedy for baldness"

Suddenly tens of millions of men in this country stop in their tracks and strain to hear the voice on the radio:

"Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report in the journal Nature that mice with deep skin wounds can send reprogrammed stem cells to the naked area and actually grow hair once again."

[Fanfare, followed by deafening cheers...]

"For more on this we turn to our male-pattern baldness correspondent, Arlo P. Cia. Arlo?"

"Thank you, Dan. Dr George Cotsarelis, the lead scientist in this new study, made the announcement today at the international headquarters of Hair Club for Men."

The researchers made relatively large wounds on the backs of adult mice, and found that if a wound reached a certain size new hairs formed at its center, with the skin undergoing changes mimicking stages of embryonic hair-follicle development.

Dormant embryonic molecular pathways were activated, sending stem cells - master cells able to transform into other cell types - to the damaged skin.

The stem cells that gave rise to the regenerated follicles were not stem cells usually associated with hair-follicle development.

"They're actually coming from epidermal cells that don't normally make hair follicles. So they're somehow reprogrammed and told to make a follicle," Cotsarelis said.

Hmm...I guess they forgot to mention one small detail in this experiment, namely, that the newly regrown hair was pure white. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Sufferers of follicular deforestation can only hope that with continued research someday the fortunes of mice and men will tangle in a propitious rendezvous, followed by a triumphant turn on the dance floor.