A "werewolf" gene which causes hair to grow all over the body has been found by scientists, who say the discovery could lead to a remedy for baldness.
They have tracked down a genetic fault which is behind a rare condition called hyper- trichosis, or werewolf syndrome, where thick hair covers the face and upper body.
They say they may be able to use drugs to trigger a similar gene mutation in people to encourage hair to grow on bald patches.
But the scientists stressed that tackling baldness was still many years away.
They do not yet know how they would be able to trigger hair to grow in bald patches without causing excessive growth all over the body.
Werewolf syndrome is extremely rare, with only 50 recorded cases in the past 300 years.
Scientists from the University of Southern California, working with researchers from Beijing, discovered the gene in a Mexican family and Chinese family who both had the condition.
Professor Pragna Patel, of the university's Institute for Genetic Medicine, said certain genes appeared to have been "turned on", which may trigger the excessive hair growth.
In the future, scientists could use drugs to "turn on" genes, which could trigger hair growth.



科学家近日发现了一种可致人体浑身布满毛发的"狼人"基因，并称这一发现可能会使脱发问题得到救治。

他们对一种名为多毛症或狼人综合症的罕见疾病进行了研究，从中找出了导致这种疾病的遗传缺陷。多毛症患者的面部和身体上半部长满了厚重的毛发。
科学家们说他们或许可以利用药物在人体触发一种类似的基因突变，促进脱发部位头发的生长。


但科学家们强调，解决脱发问题仍需很多年的时间。
目前，科学家还尚不清楚如何在促进脱发部位头发生长的同时，不会导致全身毛发的过度生长。

狼人综合症极其罕见，在过去300年里，只有50个案例记录在案。

来自加利福尼亚南部大学的科学化和北京的研究人员一道，对墨西哥和中国两个患有狼人综合症的家庭进行了研究，并发现了这种基因。

该大学遗传医学研究所的普拉尼亚-帕特尔教授说，特定基因似乎被"启动了", 这或许引发了毛发的过度生长。

未来科学家有望利用药物"启动"这些促进毛发生长的基因。

• encourage [in´kʌridʒ] vt.鼓励；怂勇；促进 (初中英语单词)
• extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
• california [,kæli´fɔ:njə] n.加利福尼亚 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• mexican [´meksikən] n.&a.墨西哥人(语)的 (初中英语单词)
• institute [´institju:t] n.学院 vt.建立；设置 (初中英语单词)
• remedy [´remidi] n.药品 vt.医治；减轻 (高中英语单词)
• excessive [ik´sesiv] a.过分的；极端的 (高中英语单词)
• trigger [´trigə] n.扳机 vt.触发，启动 (英语六级单词)