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 Dr. Lee is the founder and owner of Regrowth LLC, a company based in Los Angeles and dedicated to the treatment of hair loss. He has been developing innovative products and treating hair loss sufferers for the past 16 years. Dr. Lee is the creator of the Xandrox line of hair loss treatments.
Important Note: Due a busy schedule, Dr. Lee cannot answer any new questions at this time; however, he will be providing high quality answers to questions he receives from his own practice exclusively to Morphollica.com regularly
anonymous
2005-07-07
New findings on MPB
Are there any new findings in regards to the genetic transmission of MPB?
Considering the high proportion of men affected by MPB, its distribution in
the general population, the increased risk of MPB as the number of affected
close relatives increases, and the high risk of inheritance from either or both
affected parents, there is a strong argument in favor of a polygenic
inheritance. However, with all the knowledge that has been accumulated in
regards to MPB in the past several decades, we still do not know the exact
genetic inheritance of MPB. What had been supposed is that the genes are
autosomal (not on the X or Y chromosomes), dominant (as opposed to recessive),
and have variable penetrance (so it may not affect siblings of the same parents
to the same degree). However, in a recent article on WebMD entitled “Blame Male Pattern Baldness on Mom?” the authors have found a
gene variation that may explain some cases of MPB.
The suspect gene variation sits on the X chromosome, which is handed down to men
by their mother. It had been previously presumed that the genes involved in the
transmission of MPB were always autosomal. "The fact that family studies of [male pattern baldness] have typically stressed
the resemblance of fathers and sons is understandable, given the differences in
patterns of hair loss between males and females," write Nöthen and colleagues. “Our genetic data, however, stress the relative importance of the maternal line
in the inheritance of [male pattern baldness]. This suggests that … the
resemblance should be greater between affected males and their maternal
grandfathers than between affected males and their fathers." Richard Lee, M.D.
Regrowth, LLC
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