title: New investigational drugs for androgenetic alopecia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common form of hair loss, however current treatment options are limited and moderately effective. In the past few years, there has been an increased interest in deciphering the molecular mechanisms responsible for this disorder, which has opened the possibility of novel treatments that promise to not only stimulate hair growth, but also to induce formation of new hair follicles.
  
  
  METHODS
  The future holds more effective topical treatments with less systemic side effects (such as topical 5-alfa-reductase inhibitors), prostaglandin analogs and antagonists, medications which act through the Wnt signaling pathway, stem cells for hair regeneration, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and more effective ways of transplanting hair. A comprehensive search was made using PubMed, GoogleScholar and Clinicaltrial.gov using different combination of key words, which included AGA treatment, new treatments for AGA, Wnt pathway, prostaglandins, PRP and stem cells for hair regrowth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the near future, treatments with topical 5-alfa-reductase inhibitors and prostaglandin agonists or antagonists are expected. More evidence is needed to verify the efficacy of PRP. Although hair follicle bioengineering and multiplication is a fascinating and promising field, it is still a long way from being available to clinicians.
authors.affiliation: cristinavalente@me.com
authors.forename: Isabel Cristina
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Valente Duarte de Sousa
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tosti
mesh_terms: D058891:5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000505:Alopecia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D000726:Androgen Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D015507:Drugs, Investigational / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006197:Hair / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D053657:Platelet-Rich Plasma; D011453:Prostaglandins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D058891:5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors; D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D015507:Drugs, Investigational; D011453:Prostaglandins; D051153:Wnt Proteins