Stem cell therapy and hair loss: Present evidence and future perspectives

Abstract

Stem cells may have potential as a treatment for regenerating hair. Initially, methods to obtain stem cells have concentrated on isolating the primary cells from the tissue of interest through biopsy and growing these cells outside the body to be transplanted into the patient. Stem cell treatment of nonautoimmune hair loss like androgenetic alopecia is promising. Although an autologous transplant is viewed as the standard, its use is limited because of a lack of data and the diminished viability of cells that are made available using this method. Adipose-derived stem cells are a promising alternative because of their limited immunogenicity. They are easy to obtain, are multipotent, and can differentiate into different cell lines. They also have significant potential for angiogenesis. More studies are needed to establish the efficacy of the various types of stem cell-based treatments for people with hair loss.

Keywords

• hair
• hair follicles
• hair growth
• hair loss
• stem cell treatment
• stem cells