title: Morphological approach to hair disorders.
abstract: The Workshop on the morphological approach to hair disorders brought together a group of clinicians involved in hair biology research. Six speakers spoke on a range of topics that can be grouped broadly into a central theme. It summarizes the evolution of medical research. The section by Tosti and coworkers describes a patient with a new unique syndrome. The section by Ferrando and colleagues provides a framework in which patients with rare hair disorders can be classified. The section by Whiting tries to define the normal anatomy of the hair follicle and both horizontal and vertical sections. It is only when normal anatomy has been absolutely defined that pathological deviations can be recognized. The section by Sinclair and coworkers attempts to estimate the reliability of histological diagnosis so that its true value of pathology can be recognized. The section by Zlotogorski and coworkers shows how accurate clinical and histological definition of disease acts as the cornerstone for gene discovery techniques. Once a causative mutation is found and a gene product identified, then the biological consequences of the altered protein product can be studied and the impact of the abnormal molecular function on hair biology can be understood. It is hoped that improved understanding of hair disease will then lead to useful therapeutic interventions. The final section by Leroy and Van Neste highlights the difficulties of evaluating therapeutic interventions in hair loss disease and proposes a new technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. sinclair@svhm.org.au
authors.forename: Rodney
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jolley
authors.forename: Rica
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mallari
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magee
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tosti
authors.forename: Bianca Maria
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Piracinni
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vincenzi
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Happle
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferrando
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grimalt
authors.forename: Leroy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thérèse
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Neste
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zlotogorski
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Christiano
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Whiting
mesh_terms: D000505:Alopecia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000728:Androgens / Q000378:metabolism; D001706:Biopsy; D006201:Hair Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008967:Molecular Biology; D009030:Mosaicism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012535:Scalp / Q000473:pathology; D012536:Scalp Dermatoses / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens