Human Hair as a Testing Substrate in the Era of Precision Medicine: Potential Role of Omics-Based Approaches

December 2018 in “ IntechOpen eBooks ”

Henry Ademola Adeola, Jennifer C. Van Wyk, Afolake Arowolo, Nonhlanhla P. Khumalo

TLDR Human hair shows promise for non-invasive medical testing, but more research is needed to standardize its use.

The document from 2018 explores the use of human hair as a non-invasive substrate for testing in precision medicine, emphasizing its ability to reflect long-term health and disease information. Hair testing has applications in monitoring drug compliance, detecting chronic alcohol abuse, and discovering biomarkers. The document reviews hair's biochemical structure and its historical and current medical applications, including monitoring HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis treatments. It also discusses the use of hair cortisol levels as a stress biomarker, the detection of ethyl glucuronide for alcohol abuse, and the correlation between hair chromium levels and diabetes. Omics-based approaches, such as proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics, have identified biomarkers for conditions like oxidative damage, autoimmune diseases, and cancer risks. The document highlights the importance of data repositories, bioinformatics, and integrative multi-omics methods for molecular analysis, as well as molecular imaging techniques for hair characterization. It also mentions the potential of nanotechnology and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging in hair analysis. The conclusion suggests that while hair testing holds promise for precision medicine, routine use in diagnostic pathology faces challenges, and more work is needed to establish a standard workflow.

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research Keratin Network Modifications Lead to the Mechanical Stiffening of the Hair Follicle Fiber

40 citations , May 2016 in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America”

Changes in keratin make hair follicles stiffer.

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10 citations , January 2016 in “PLOS ONE”

Researchers found 44 proteins that change during different hair growth stages and may be important for hair follicle function.

research Biology of the Hair Follicle and Mechanisms of Nonscarring and Scarring Alopecia

10 citations , June 2015 in “Seminars in cutaneous medicine and surgery”

Hair loss can be caused by various factors, and treatments focus on restoring normal hair growth.

research Nanotechnology in Dermatology

60 citations , January 2014 in “Anais Brasileiros De Dermatologia”

Nanotechnology in dermatology shows promise for better drug delivery and treatment effectiveness but requires more safety research.

research Live Imaging of Stem Cell and Progeny Behavior in Physiological Hair-Follicle Regeneration

305 citations , July 2012 in “Nature”

Hair regeneration needs dynamic cell behavior and mesenchyme presence for stem cell activation.

research The Proteomic Profile of Hair Damage

20 citations , June 2012 in “British Journal of Dermatology”

Bleaching hair damages protein structure, especially keratin, leading to weakened hair.

research Proteomic Tools for the Investigation of Human Hair Structural Proteins and Evidence of Weakness Sites on Hair Keratin Coil Segments

38 citations , February 2012 in “Analytical biochemistry”

Hair proteins have weak spots in their α-helical segments.

research Identification of Breast Cancer-Associated Lipids in Scalp Hair

6 citations , January 2012 in “Breast cancer”

Breast cancer may be detectable through changes in scalp hair lipids.

research Investigation by Imaging Mass Spectrometry of Biomarker Candidates for Aging in the Hair Cortex

21 citations , October 2011 in “PloS one”

Certain molecules in hair change with age and could be used for cosmetic treatments.

research Measuring Changes in Chemistry, Composition, and Molecular Structure Within Hair Fibers by Infrared and Raman Spectroscopic Imaging

42 citations , January 2011 in “Journal of Biomedical Optics”

Infrared and Raman imaging can non-destructively analyze hair structure and help diagnose hair conditions.

research Biology and Genetics of Hair

89 citations , September 2010 in “Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics”

The document concludes that understanding the genes and pathways involved in hair growth is crucial for developing treatments for hair diseases.

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73 citations , March 2009 in “Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery”

The document concludes that accurate diagnosis of hair disorders is crucial and requires a range of diagnostic methods.

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35 citations , March 2007 in “Skin Research and Technology”

The conclusion is that exogen is a unique hair cycle phase and the new sampling method specifically targets this stage, which may help in future hair loss research.

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41 citations , May 2005 in “International Journal of Cosmetic Science”

Human hair contains various lipids that vary among individuals and help protect the hair.

research Fourier Transform Infrared Attenuated Total Reflection Analysis of Human Hair: Comparison of Hair from Breast Cancer Patients with Hair from Healthy Subjects

42 citations , January 2005 in “Applied spectroscopy”

Hair from breast cancer patients shows changes in structure and composition, and a test using these changes detected cancer but also falsely identified some healthy samples as cancerous.