STEVE EMBER: Angela Christiano is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. She also suffers from alopecia areata. She says the study gives hope that there may someday be a cure for the condition.
The researchers studied one thousand fifty four cases from the The National Alopecia Areata Registry. They looked for similarities in the genes that people with different levels of alopecia carry. They found that those with thirteen to fourteen similar genes had diseases that did not progress. Those with sixteen or more similar genes usually progressed to alopecia universalis, or total baldness.
The researchers are now working on a genetic test to predict the severity of the disease. Professor Christiano says the next step is to repeat the study in future research, with a larger number of patients.
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BARBARA KLEIN: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by June Simms. Brianna Blake was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.
STEVE EMBER: And, I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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2013-11-25
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25