Researchers have identified two genetic variants in Caucasians that increase the risk of baldness sevenfold among males, according to a study,

Male baldness is the most common form of baldness, where hair is lost in a well-defined pattern beginning above both temples, and results in a distinctive M shaped hairline.

Estimates suggest more than 80 percent of cases are hereditary.

About a third of all men are affected by the ‘shiny pate syndrome’ by the of 45. Expenditures for hair transplantation in the US alone exceeded $115 million in 2007, while global revenues for medical therapy for male-pattern baldness recently surpassed $405 million.

This study was conducted by Vincent Mooser of Glaxo Smith Kline, Brent Richards of McGill University’s faculty of Medicine and Tim Spector of King’s College. Along with colleagues in Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, researchers conducted a genome-wide association study of 1,125 Caucasian men who had been assessed for male pattern baldness.

They found two previously unknown genetic variants o chromosome 20 that substantially increased the risk of male pattern baldness. They then conformed these findings in an additional 1,650 caucasian men, according to a McGill University release.

But this does not mean a treatment or cure for male pattern baldness is imminent. “We have only identified a cause,” Richards said. “Treating male pattern baldness will require more research. But, of course, the first step in finding a way to treat most conditions it is to first identify the cause.”

But prediction would be better.

Early prediction before hair loss starts may lead to some interesting therapies that are more effective than treating late stage hair loss.

Source: TOI