News in Brief
June 2012
in “
Expert Review of Dermatology
”
TLDR Japanese researchers created new hair follicles from human cells that grew hair when put into mice, and other findings showed a link between eye disease severity and corneal thickness, gene mutations affecting hearing and touch, and the safety of the shingles vaccine for adults over 50.
In 2012, researchers in Japan successfully demonstrated hair follicle regeneration by creating bioengineered hair follicle germs from scalp skin cells of two male donors, aged 39 and 63, and transplanting them into mice. These bioengineered follicles connected with host tissues, produced pigmented hair, and responded to stimuli, showing promise for regenerative therapy. In other studies, a correlation was found between the severity of Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy and central corneal thickness, mutations in the USH2A gene were linked to both hearing and touch impairment in a study involving 100 pairs of twins and Usher syndrome patients, and the herpes zoster vaccine was deemed safe for adults over 50, with only minor local reactions noted.
