July 8th 2026
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WellBeing Magazine
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Hair greying and cancer may be two opposing outcomes of the same cellular process. Researchers at The University of Tokyo found that melanocyte stem cells (McSCs), which produce pigment in hair and skin, respond to stress in different ways. DNA damage from double-strand breaks triggers senescence-coupled differentiation (seno-differentiation), causing stem cells to permanently mature and be lost, which leads to grey hair. In contrast, exposure to certain carcinogens or UVB radiation allows McSCs to bypass this protective mechanism, continue self-renewing and expand, raising the risk of melanoma.
“These findings reveal that the same stem cell population can follow antagonistic fates, exhaustion or expansion, depending on the type of stress and microenvironmental signals,” says Professor Emi Nishimura. Published in Nature Cell Biology, the study links hair greying to a natural defence that removes damaged cells before they become cancerous, while showing that failure of this safeguard can contribute to melanoma development.
Source: The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
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