MONDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- A gene variant on chromosome 20 increases the risk of developing male pattern baldness, adding to the previously identified androgen receptor locus on the X chromosome, according to two studies published online Oct. 12 in Nature Genetics.
In the first study, Axel M. Hillmer, Ph.D., from the University of Bonn in Germany, and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study of 296 individuals with androgenetic alopecia and 347 controls. They identified 30 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, of which five located on chromosome 20p11 continued to be significant in an independent group of 319 affected individuals and 234 controls. Homozygotes had genotype-based odds ratios of 3.72 to 6.16, depending on severity. There was no interaction of the locus with the X-chromosomal androgen receptor (AR) locus previously linked to the condition.
In the second study, J. Brent Richards, M.D., from King's College London in the United Kingdom, and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study in 1,125 men with androgenic alopecia. They found a significant association with a variant on chromosome 20p11.22, which was confirmed in an additional 1,650 individuals (odds ratio 1.60). The 14 percent of individuals with variants of this gene and the AR gene had a sevenfold higher risk of the condition (OR, 7.12).
"The risk alleles at this newly identified locus and AR are common in Europeans and impart a relatively large risk for androgenic alopecia," Richards and colleagues conclude. "Given the feasibility of gene therapy in human follicles, our results may point to an intriguing new potential target for the treatment of hair loss."
Abstract - Hillmer
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Abstract - Richards
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