Speaking of reviews, CNBC just had Angela Christiano on discussing the discovery that the human homolog of the mouse "hairless" gene, is repsonsible for a severe but rare condition resulting in human hair loss (or lack of hair growth). I'm not that familiar with the gene, but I did read the Science abstract and it's a zinc finger transcription factor, as are the hormone receptors targeted by LGND's IR technology. Here's the abstract:
Alopecia Universalis Associated with a Mutation in the
Human hairless Gene
Wasim Ahmad, Muhammad Faiyaz ul Haque, Valeria Brancolini, Hui C. Tsou,
Sayed ul Haque, HaMut Lam, Vincent M. Aita, Jason Owen, Michelle deBlaquiere,
Jorge Frank, Peter B. Cserhalmi-Friedman, Andrew Leask, John A. McGrath,
Monica Peacocke, Mahmud Ahmad, Jurg Ott, Angela M. Christiano *
There are several forms of hereditary human hair loss, known collectively as alopecias, the molecular
bases of which are entirely unknown. A kindred with a rare, recessively inherited type of alopecia
universalis was used to search for a locus by homozygosity mapping, and linkage was established in
a 6-centimorgan interval on chromosome 8p12 (the logarithm of the odds favoring linkage score was
6.19). The human homolog of a murine gene, hairless, was localized in this interval by radiation
hybrid mapping, and a missense mutation was found in affected individuals. Human hairless encodes
a putative single zinc finger transcription factor protein with restricted expression in the brain and
skin.
W. Ahmad, H. C. Tsou, H. Lam, V. M. Aita, J. Frank, P. B. Cserhalmi-Friedman, M. Peacocke,
A. M. Christiano, Department of Dermatology and Department of Genetics and Development,
Columbia University, 630 West 168 Street, VC-15-526, New York, NY 10032, USA.
M. F. ul Haque, S. ul Haque, M. Ahmad, Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam
University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
V. Brancolini and J. Ott, Laboratory for Statistical Genetics, Rockefeller University, 1230 York
Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
J. Owen and M. deBlaquiere, Research Genetics, Inc., 2130 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville,
AL 35801, USA.
A. Leask, FibroGen, Inc., 260 Littlefield Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
J. A. McGrath, St. John's Institute of Dermatology, St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road,
London, SE1 7EH, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: amc65@columbia.edu |
