The Prolactin Receptor and Hair

Thanks to reader “John Doe” for posting the link to this story earlier today.

I have read in the past that very high pituitary hormone prolactin (PRL) levels (hyperprolactinemia), can cause hair loss. However, the research is not totally conclusive as far as I can tell. Moreover, a lot of the existing studies seems to look at alopecia areata, stress related hair loss, or pituitary gland disorders rather than typical androgenetic alopecia. However, perhaps there is more to this subject matter than I originally thought based on the below development.

Moreover, some detailed studies have supported targeting PRL to regrow hair in androgenetic alopecia sufferers. For example, this one from 2006 concludes that new therapeutic strategies for the management of hormonal hair loss in men and women could make use of recently developed PRL-R antagonists.

Prolactin Therapy: Bayer and Hope Medicine Collaboration

A new biopharmaceutical company from China named Hope Medicine (HopeMed) has entered into a partnership with Bayer (Germany) that could have significant implications for hair loss sufferers. Hope Medicine will develop and commercialize a human antibody targeting the PRL receptor for the treatment of male and female pattern hair loss.

According to the above link, data published by a Bayer team and others points to a “yet hardly recognized role of prolactin/prolactin-receptors signaling” in male and female pattern hair loss disorders.

Key quote regarding the antibody drug that has already been developed and gone through Pase 1 trials:

“The antibody was effective in stimulating hair growth in aged stump-tailed macaques, nearly doubling the number of terminal hairs after 6 months even in previously fully bald areas and showing a sustainable impact even after 2 years post treatment. Notably, the stump-tail macaque model is considered one of the rare predictive animal models for male and female pattern hair loss in humans.”

The current research and drug development study is a result of a close collaboration between Bayer scientists and researchers at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) at Peking University. The main scientist involved at IMM seems to be Dr. Rui-Ping Xiao.

More on Hope Medicine’s funding status and other related info.

The post The Prolactin Receptor and Hair appeared first on Hair Loss Cure 2020.