LONDON (Reuters) – Researchers have identified a gene linked to hair loss that could lead to new drugs to treat baldness. Pfizer Inc 's Rogaine are drugs sold to stop baldness, but they help people maintain their hair rather than grow new follicles. Using DNA samples from 11 members of a Saudi Arabian family that had inherited the rare condition, the researchers found that a mutation in the P2Y5 gene prevented proteins called growth receptors on hair follicle cells from forming properly. This meant a substance needed to stimulate hair growth could not attach to the defective receptors and may help explain hair loss, the researchers said. read more

Technorati Tags: hair, researchers, reuters, drugs, gene, growth, hair loss news