Researchers discover genetic mutation boosting hair growth

A team of U.S. and Chinese researchers have discovered a
chromosomal mutation responsible for a very rare condition in which
people grow excess hair all over their bodies. The finding
ultimately will lead to new treatments for this and less severe
forms of excessive hair growth as well as baldness, said
researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of
Southern California (USC). The researchers made the discovery in
cooperation with their counterparts at Peking Union Medical
College. Study findings were published in the June issue of the
American Journal of Human Genetics. The initial discovery of the
mutation came from a lab at the Peking Union Medical College, which
examined the condition, known congenital hypertrichosis syndrome
(CGH), in a Chinese family. Males with this disorder have hair
covering their entire face including their eyelids and their upper
body, while females have thick patches of hair on their bodies.
Then researchers confirmed the finding in a Mexican family that
Pragna Patel, professor in the Keck School, the USC Institute for
Genetic Medicine, and the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC,
first began studying in 1993.