Dr George Cotsarelis and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have successfully incorporated genes into normal growing hair follicles. This study was first presented at the Society for Investigative Dermatology annual conference in Chicago, May 1999. Previously it was shown that topical liposomes could be used to transfer DNA to mouse hair follicles, but this is the first time that DNA has been successfully transferred to human hair follicles.
Liposomes are very small, submicroscopic globules of oil.
The liposomes are able to penetrate through skin very easily and they can act as carriers to take drugs, proteins, or even DNA into the skin. Hair follicles include very active, rapidly dividing cells. These cells are continuously replicating their own DNA for inclusion in new cells. Potentially it should be quite easy to transfer a gene through the skin to hair follicles using liposomes. The liposomes penetrate the skin and then fuse with the walls of cells and release their DNA contents into the cells.