Cancer-fighting drugs cure baldness, contrary to its history as a cause of hair loss

Cancer patients commonly suffer from hair loss due to treatments for the disease, but a new study shows that some specialised drugs could work as creams to stimulate fast hair growth. The drugs, called JAK inhibitors, developed to help patients suffering from cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, have been found to help hair grow and offer potential baldness cure when applied on the skin of cancer patients experiencing hair loss.

Researchers from Columbia University have been trying to determine the effectiveness of JAK inhibitors in treating a rare type of hair loss known as alopecia areata. The condition is the result of the mistaken attack of the immune system on hair follicles, and the drugs could potentially suppress inappropriate immune responses.

The two drugs, ruxolitinib, for treating blood diseases, and tofacitinib, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, were used in the experiments. The researchers of the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances, found that JAK inhibitors can directly affect hair follicles.

The study shows that the drugs promote a "resting state” for hair. The JAK inhibitors “allow the hair to enter the hair cycle," lead researcher Angela Christiano, associate professor of Molecular Dermatology at Columbia University, told NBC News.

The JAK compounds were rubbed on the skin of bald mice, and the researchers repeated the process for five days. Within 10 days, the team observed growing new hair.

"The hair that came in came in beautifully and in a few weeks and very thickly," Christiano said. She noted that the drugs, when used topically or to body surfaces like skin, were more likely to stimulate hair growth “much faster and more robustly” than when taken by the alopecia areata patients orally.

The Food and Drug Administration has already approved the JAK inhibitors ruxolitinib and tofacitinib in the market prior to the study. However, the researchers cautioned that the drugs work by suppressing the immune system, which could cause patients to be vulnerable to infections. They also said that using the drugs for cosmetic purposes like treating male pattern baldness would be dangerous.

Christiano said that applying the drugs on the body surface, particularly to skin, would be safer. However, more studies are needed to determine the safety and effectiveness of the drugs in humans as they have only been tested on animal subjects.

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