New study reveals gray hair could protect against deadly cancer risk

Why does hair turn gray? So how is this common feature of aging linked to a life-threatening disease?

A new study may have identified how graying is linked to one of the deadliest types of skin cancer.

Dr. from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Researchers led by Emi K. Nishimura found that pigment-producing stem cells in hair follicles respond to stress in significantly different ways.

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Depending on their environment, these cells can either die, leading to graying of hair, or survive and proliferate, which can trigger melanoma, according to a university press release.

The findings were published October 6 in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Using mouse models and tissue samples, the team studied melanocyte stem cells, the cells that give hair and skin their color. By exposing these cells to DNA-damaging forms of stress, such as chemicals that mimic UV exposure, scientists observed how the cells behaved in their natural environments.

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Some of the cells responded to the damage by stopping the normal self-renewal process and turning into mature pigment cells, which soon died. This deprived the hair of its color source, causing graying.

In mice, damaged pigment cells sometimes stopped regenerating and turned into short-lived mature cells, leading to graying of hair. (iStock)

But when the researchers modified the surrounding tissue to encourage cell survival, the damaged stem cells began dividing again rather than shutting down. The surviving cells accumulated more genetic damage and, in some cases, began to behave like cancer cells.

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Additional experiments showed that certain signals from the cells’ environment (including a molecule called KIT ligand, which promotes cell growth) help determine which direction the cells go.

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In other words, the same type of cell can either perish harmlessly or become the seed of melanoma, depending on the cues it receives from nearby tissue.

The body’s response to stress could mean the difference between gray hair and cancer, study suggests. (iStock)

“It reframes graying hair and melanoma not as unrelated events but as distinct consequences of stem cell stress responses,” Nishimura said in the statement.

Nishimura’s team described the process as a biological trade-off between aging and cancer; But this does not mean that gray hair prevents cancer.

“It reframes graying and melanoma not as unrelated events but as distinct consequences of stem cell stress responses.”

Instead, pigment cells stop dividing and die, indicating that it’s the body’s way of getting rid of damaged cells, the researchers said. If this process does not occur and damaged cells remain around, they can turn into cancer.

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The study was conducted in mice, but its results could help scientists understand why some people develop melanoma without obvious warning signs and how natural mechanisms of aging may actually protect against cancer.

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For now, researchers say this discovery shows how delicately balanced the body’s cellular responses are, and that small changes in this balance can mean the difference between a harmless sign of aging and a life-threatening disease.