1 in 7 men have genetic risk of balding

MONTREAL, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, King's College London and the British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline Inc. say 1 in 7 men have genetic risk of balding.

The researchers identified two genetic variants in Caucasians that together produce a sevenfold increase in the risk of male pattern baldness.

Dr. Vincent Mooser of GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Brent Richards of McGill University and the affiliated Jewish General Hospital and Dr. Tim Spector of King's College London, along with colleagues in Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, conducted a genome-wide association study of 1,125 Caucasian men who had been assessed for male pattern baldness.

Male pattern baldness, the most common form of baldness, results in hair lost in a well-defined pattern beginning above both temples.

The researchers found two previously unknown genetic variants on chromosome 20 that substantially increased the risk of male pattern baldness.

Although researchers consider their discovery to be a scientific breakthrough, they caution that it does not mean a treatment or cure for male pattern baldness is imminent.

"But the first step in finding a way to treat most conditions it is to first identify the cause," Richards said.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Genetics.