Usually, hair turning white is considered as a sign of aging, and this process is irreversible. However, a case published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 23rd gave people hope that their hair would turn black.
This 5 1 year-old male patient has chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). After receiving nilotinib (TKI), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, his gray hair gradually returned to its original color at the first18th month.
During this period, he did not use other drugs or hair dye products. At the same time, no other abnormal pigment distribution was found on his skin, mucosa and hair except that his hair changed back to its previous brown-black color. The patient's hair color before and after nilotinib treatment.
This is the first patient whose hair turned black after using nilotinib. The main mechanism of nilotinib in treating CML is through inhibiting the activity of BCL-ABL protein kinase. A study published on 20 18 showed that nilotinib treatment of melanin cell lines would lead to an increase in melanin levels. Melanocytes in hair follicles are the main cells that produce melanin and make hair black.
Further study found that nilotinib may lead to melanogenesis by inhibiting phosphorylation of AKT enzyme and activating phosphorylation of CREB. In addition, proinflammatory cytokines (such as tumor necrosis factor α, IL-6 and IL- 1) are all inhibitors of melanin production.
Many cells in hair follicles, including macrophages, can produce these cytokines. Structural defects in aging hair follicles may lead to aggravation of inflammation and inhibit melanin production. Inhibition of the activity of these proinflammatory factors may make melanin continue to be produced.
At the end of the paper, the author points out that although a single case cannot support the use of anti-cancer therapy to blacken white hair, it also brings hope to people: although hair whitening is a natural process of aging, it is not necessarily inevitable or irreversible.