Experts at King’s College London, UK, discovered two gene variants involved in the development of male hair loss. The scientists remind that one third of men over 45 years of age suffer from different patterns of baldness, 80% of cases of male hair loss being hereditary.
In their search for new ways of treatment for male pattern baldness, gene experts detected two previously unknown gene variants that greatly contribute to the risk of hair loss after they analyzed the genomes of 1125 of white men suffering from alopecia.
Both genetic variations are located on chromosome 20, which is crucial for the understanding of genetic mechanism for baldness. The scientists already knew hair loss genes to be located on X chromosome and passed down the mother’s side. Now they identified another cause. If you have both the risk variants, your chance of hair loss increases sevenfold. 14% of men are thought to have both variants.
