The World in 2030

304 The World in 2030
at Harvard Medical School has recently shown that
melanocyte stem cells near the top of the hair follicle
disappear just before a hair turns white. This means
the mature melanocytes at the base of the follicle are
not replaced when the hair falls out and a new one
begins to form (Science, vol 307, p 720).
Greyness could be reversible. In fact, an existing cancer
drug seems to occasionally restore pigmentation,
and more reliable, safer methods are on the horizon.
For instance, AntiCancer of San Diego, California,
has developed ways of delivering drugs or genes to
hair follicles in fatty sacs. The payload could include
genes that restore melanin production, says company
president Robert Hoffman. The problem is getting
high enough gene expression in all the cells, he
says, to avoid producing streaky, partially pigmented
hair. 530
And male baldness, a most troubling debilitation for many
men, may soon be nothing but a bad memory. So far this
has been a condition that has refused to yield to medical
science. Hair transplants have been regularly carried out since
the 1970s but few patients have sufficient donor follicles to
make the treatment really effective. Now, however, it finally
seems that a permanent cure may be on the way (and will
almost certainly be widely available by 2030). In May 2007
Medical News Today reported:
US scientists have found a way to make the skin of
laboratory mice gives rise to new fully working hair
follicles complete with new hair by using a protein