Hair-Coloring Tests Hold Promise

If experiments by a San Diego biotech company live up to their promise, the hair dye of the future may be a merger of gene therapy and cosmetology. And the same high technology used to deliver pigment right into the hair cells holds promise for treating cancer patients with a protein that would block hair loss from chemotherapy, a scientist at privately held AntiCancer Inc. said. In research published in the July edition of the journal Nature Medicine, AntiCancer reported it had developed a gene therapy delivery system capable of carrying genetic material directly into the cells that produce a hair shaft. AntiCancer biologist Robert Hoffman said that by placing the natural hair-coloring pigment, or melanin, into the hair cells itself, it would hide the gray from the roots up as the hair grows. The company is also experimenting with a protein that could be applied to patients before they start chemotherapy. Experiments suggest that patients might be able to keep up to 80% of their hair, Hoffman said.