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Beginning
at the University of Toronto in 1998, Dr. Unger co-directed
studies on what is popularly called “cloning” of hair but is
more accurately called 'cell therapy'. Cells are removed
from a patient's hair and millions of similar cells can be
reproduced within several weeks. These cells, when injected
into immune-compromised mice, almost always resulted in the
growth of human hairs that lasted until the mice were very
old. Two studies on human subjects have been conducted.
The patients’ own culture-grown hair cells were injected
into their scalps. In the first study, hair grew in only
one of the 10 patients. In the second study, hair grew in
three of 13 patients; however, the growth of hair at the
treated sites was not as vigorous as it had been in the one
responder in the first study. We have temporarily
discontinued these studies because of legal problems with
the funding. Hopefully, this problem will be resolved soon. I
continue to believe that someone, somewhere, will perfect
the technique within 5 to 10 years. |
