Nat Genet. 2008 Nov;40(11):1282-4. Epub 2008 Oct 12.

Comment in:
Nat Genet. 2008 Nov;40(11):1270-1.

Male-pattern baldness susceptibility locus at 20p11.

Richards JB, et al

We conducted a genome-wide association study for androgenic alopecia in 1,125 men and identified a newly associated locus at chromosome 20p11.22, confirmed in three independent cohorts. The one man in seven who harbors risk alleles at both 20p11.22 and AR (encoding the androgen receptor) has a sevenfold-increased odds of androgenic alopecia.

Hair Loss

J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2009 Jun;23(6):673-7. Epub 2009 Feb 24.

Is androgenetic alopecia a risk for atherosclerosis?

Dogramaci AC, Balci DD, Balci A, Karazincir S, Savas N, Topaloglu C, Yalcin F.

Several studies have demonstrated the presence of an association between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with AGA and healthy controls by the incorporation of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) along with echocardiography (ECHO) and exercise electrocardiography (ExECG). METHODS: We performed a case-control study in 50 male patients with AGA and 31 age-matched healthy male controls with normal hair status. Both the AGA patients and controls with a history of diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, hypertension, cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease, and renal failure were excluded. AGA was classified according to the Hamilton-Norwood scale. Serum lipids, serum hs-CRP, total testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate were examined in all study subjects. Carotid ultrasonography was used to measure the IMT of the common carotid arteries (CCA). ECHO and ExECG were performed in all subjects. RESULTS: IMT of the CCA was found to be significantly higher in patients with severe vertex pattern AGA whencompared to patients with other patterns of AGA and healthy controls. Hs-CRP in patients with any group of AGA was not significantly different from those healthy controls. ECHO showed that cardiac structural and functional measures were in normal ranges. ExECG was also normal in all subjects. CONCLUSION: Severe vertex pattern AGA should be considered to have an increased
risk of subclinical atherosclerosis. For this reason, CCA IMT measurement can be recommended as a non-invasive and early diagnostic method.

Hair Loss>

Curr Drug Metab. 2009 Jun 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors - A Review on Pharmacology, Metabolism and Side
Effects.

Hartmann JT, Haap M, Kopp HG, Lipp HP.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are effective in the targeted treatment of
various malignancies. Imatinib was the first to be introduced into clinical
oncology, and it was followed by drugs such as gefitinib, erlotinib, sorafenib,
sunitinib, and dasatinib. Although they share the same mechanism of action,
namely competitive ATP inhibition at the catalytic binding site of tyrosine
kinase, they differ from each other in the spectrum of targeted kinases, their
pharmacokinetics as well as substance-specific adverse effects. With variations
from drug to drug, tyrosine kinase inhibitors cause skin toxicity, including
folliculitis, in more than 50% of patients. Among the tyrosine kinase inhibitors
that are commercially available as yet, the agents that target EGFR, erlotinib
and gefitinib, display the broadest spectrum of adverse effects on skin and hair,
including folliculitis, paronychia, facial hair growth, facial erythema, and
varying forms of frontal alopecia. In contrast, folliculitis is not common during
administration of sorafenib and sunitinib, which target VEGFR, PDGFR, FLT3, and
others, whereas both agents have been associated with subungual splinter
hemorrhages. Periorbital edema is a common adverse effect of imatinib. Besides
the haematological side effects of most of TKIs like anemia, thrombopenia and
neutropenia, the most common extra-heamatologic adverse effects are edeme,
nausea, hypothyroidism, vomiting and diarrhea. Regarding possible long term
effects, recently cardiac toxicity with congestive heart failure is under debate
in patients receiving imatinib and sunitinib therapy; however, this observation
was probably relate to patients selection, although, TKIs overall appear to be a
very well tolerated drug class.