New skin from old hair

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1399000/1399252.stm

New skin from old hair

Hair follicles plucked from anywhere on the body can used to create skin grafts.

Scientists can now grow skin from hair

follicles - cutting out the need for painful skin grafts.

Researchers from the Swiss biotechnology company Modex Therapeutics, based in

Lausanne, said they can use the stem cells

found in hair follicles to grow new skin. They are hopeful this technique,

called Epidex, could soon mean an end to the

painful process of taking skin from other parts of the body for grafts. New

skin like this is important in plastic

surgery, particularly for burns victims, who can be left with disfiguring scars

without the new skin.

Creating skin

Dr Baetge, the chief scientific officer for Modex, said the technique

could use hairs taken from anywhere on the

body. Doctors send between 20-30 hairs to Modex by post and then they return

the skin about a month later. Dr Baetge

said: " We're changing patients hair to patients' skin. Doctors can pluck hairs

from any points in the body. "

The stem cells are put onto trays which are then placed above a layer of

completely unrelated human skin cells. These

then secrete growth factors that transform the stem cells into basic skin cells

called primary keratinocytes. The cells

are then exposed to the air and this turns it into proper skin, with a horny

layer on top. If the patients are too sick

to get their treatment immediately doctors can freeze the keratinocytes until

they are ready.

Initial results

Modex has just released the preliminary results of a trial on 80 patients with

diabetic skin ulcers at 12 clinics in

Germany and Switzerland and they say that for the first 36 to be treated the

technique worked at least as well as the

more traditional split skin mesh grafting.

Although the technique has currently only been used on fairly small ulcers Modex

is hoping to treat larger wounds. Dr

Tania , a dermatologist at Boston University School of Medicine said

this was an important break through. " It's

a great development because to get cultured keratinocyte grafts from individual

patients, you must take at least one

centimetre of skin. With the hair cells, it sounds like you can provide skin

coverage without hurting the patient. "

The research is published in New Scientist.

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Good Health & Long Life,

Greg ,

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gowatson

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