Systems Pharmacology Identifies Dermal Papilla-Specific Transcriptomic Reversal of Androgenetic Alopecia by Lithium-Zinc Pathway Convergence
March 2026
in “
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
”
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Studysummary This study found that the combination of lithium and zinc produced a statistically significant transcriptomic rescue across three datasets, with the strongest signal observed in a DP-enriched model, suggesting potential efficacy in targeting DP-specific pathways.
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The study investigates the effects of a lithium–zinc combination on androgenetic alopecia by analyzing transcriptomic data from three datasets. The combination showed statistically significant transcriptomic rescue, with z-scores of 3.43, 3.99, and 9.79, and empirical p-values of 0.0095, 0.017, and <0.001, respectively. The lithium–zinc combination ranked in the 99.5th percentile in the dermal papilla (DP)-specific dataset, indicating a strong effect on DP-specific pathways. Cross-dataset meta-analysis confirmed the consistency of the results, with a Stouffer Z of 9.93 and a Fisher p-value of <10⁻⁵. The findings suggest that the lithium–zinc pathway convergence effectively targets DP-specific pathways, offering potential therapeutic benefits for androgenetic alopecia.
