Protein may help combat cancer and ageing - or baldness

Published on Thursday 18 August 2005 02:08

A PROTEIN being investigated by scientists could open up new ways of tackling cancer, ageing - and even baldness.

Scientists discovered that activating the protein produced rapid hair growth in mice.

They now believe it could lead to new treatments for disorders associated with tissue injury, ageing and cancer.

The protein, known as TERT, is a key component of telomerase, an enzyme that adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes and helps cells proliferate.

TERT is activated in 90 per cent of human cancers. The new study showed that in skin, it can activate dormant hair follicle stem cells, resulting in "shaggy" mice.

This process is distinct from its previously known role of adding caps, called telomeres, to the ends of chromosomes.

Manipulating TERT could open up new avenues for developing therapies, suggest the researchers, led by Dr Steven Artandi, from Stanford University in California.

They wrote in the journal Nature: "These data... suggest new strategies for manipulating TERT for therapeutic purposes in treating disorders associated with tissue injury and ageing."

The fact that TERT promoted rapid hair growth in mice also raises the prospect of a cure for baldness, which has long been a goal of scientists. Any cure would be worth millions to those who uncovered it.

However, whether or not the telomerase protein can ever be used to restore hair to bald heads is far from certain.

In an accompanying commentary, Dr Elizabeth Blackburn, from the University of California at San Francisco, wrote: "In ancient Egypt, men smeared their pates with hippopotamus fat in a desperate bid to stave off baldness.

"Is telomerase the new hippopotamus fat? Probably not.

"But this enzyme is already known to be vital in sustaining tissues in health and disease, and we should look beyond its eponymous function to understand the full spectrum of its potential roles."