{"id":467463,"date":"2026-03-10T08:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T08:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/467463\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T08:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T08:50:10","slug":"why-suddenly-going-grey-could-be-a-secret-sign-of-the-most-dangerous-form-of-cancer-but-also-a-glimmer-of-hope-for-the-health-of-those-who-turn-white-overnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/467463\/","title":{"rendered":"Why suddenly going grey could be a secret sign of the most dangerous form of cancer… but also a glimmer of hope for the health of those who turn white overnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of us might reach for the hair dye the moment those first grey hairs appear. But a groundbreaking new study suggests we may be covering up one of the body\u2019s most ingenious defences against cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Research published in Nature Cell \u00adBiology showed grey hair is not just a sign of ageing \u2013 it also indicates the body is busy fighting off cancer-causing cell mutations in hair follicles in the scalp.<\/p>\n

These could potentially lead to malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientists believe that understanding how this natural defence system works could lead to new ways to prevent or treat the disease, which kills around 2,500 Britons a year.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of Tokyo studied mice and found that cells in the hair follicles called melanocyte stem cells (which grow into melanocytes, the cells that give hair and skin their colour) went into self-destruct mode as soon as they detected any sign of DNA damage that might lead to \u00adcancer, such as cells multiplying out of control.<\/p>\n

The stem cells shut down permanently \u2013 a process called cell \u00adsenescence \u2013 halting potential \u00adcancer growth, but also depriving the hair of its colour.<\/p>\n

This is key because studies suggest once these stem cells undergo cancer-causing changes, they can migrate to the skin\u2019s upper layers, leading to a malignant melanoma, which can spread around the body.<\/p>\n

Emi Nishimura, a professor of ageing and regeneration, who led the study, said grey hair and melanomas are caused by the same stress response in the cells that give colour to hair. But hair follicle cells are able to detect their own DNA damage and shut themselves down before they lead to cancer.<\/p>\n

\"Many <\/p>\n

Many of us might reach for the hair dye the moment those first grey hairs appear. But a groundbreaking new study suggests we may be covering up one of the body\u2019s most ingenious defences against cancer<\/p>\n

The team now hope to try to replicate the findings in humans. Cell senescence also occurs in the skin, gut, lungs and other organs. For example, during wound healing the body shuts down repair cells once a cut has healed, to prevent excessive scarring.<\/p>\n

And moles on the skin are just clusters of melanocytes which stopped growing \u2018because one \u00admelanocyte acquired a cancer-\u00adpromoting mutation\u2019, says \u00adProfessor Dot Bennett, a cell biologist at City St George\u2019s, University of London.<\/p>\n

These same moles can then become cancerous if one of the \u00admelanocytes breaks loose and starts to rapidly divide.<\/p>\n

\u2018Scientists are starting to understand how some damaged cells escape senescence and restart dividing,\u2019 says Professor Bennett.<\/p>\n

\u2018That could eventually help us find ways to push dangerous cells back towards senescence \u2013 and away from cancer.\u2019<\/p>\n

The latest research also tackled an important question \u2013 if hair stem cells shut down at the first sign of DNA damage, why don\u2019t they behave the same way when that damage is caused by over-exposure to the sun\u2019s rays, the biggest cause of malignant melanoma?<\/p>\n

The Tokyo team found that when hair follicle cells were exposed to UV light, it failed to trigger this same protective response. Instead, the cells carried on dividing, increasing the risk of a melanoma forming.<\/p>\n

This was because UV light triggers the release of a protein called KIT-ligand from surrounding hair follicles, which blocks the signal telling defective cells to shut down.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the findings could have intriguing implications for the fast-growing science of senolytics \u2013 the development of drugs to clear senescent cells from the body.<\/p>\n

\"Emi <\/p>\n

Emi Nishimura, a professor of ageing and regeneration, says grey hair and melanomas are caused by the same stress response in the cells that give colour to hair<\/p>\n

While shut down, senescent cells are metabolically active but not \u00adfunctioning properly. As they accumulate in the body as we age, these cells are thought to drive the development of age-related illnesses, such as osteoarthritis and dementia.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lots of research groups are now working on senolytics,\u2019 says Professor Bennett. \u2018If they are successful, then hair greying and hair loss are among the symptoms that might become treatable.\u2019<\/p>\n

Professor Desmond Tobin, a dermatological scientist at University College Dublin, says the findings from the Tokyo team need to be treated with caution.<\/p>\n

He points out the study was \u00adcarried out in mice \u2013 and the way hair grows in mice is fundamentally different from the process in humans. In mice, thousands of hair follicles grow in a synchronised wave every few weeks, meaning melanocyte stem cells divide far more frequently than in humans.<\/p>\n

H e adds: \u2018The average age in humans for diagnosis of melanoma is between 60 and 70, long after most people show substantial hair greying.<\/p>\n

\u2018Plus, melanoma of the scalp is \u00adrelatively rare in humans \u2013 only about 2 to 5 per cent of all skin melanomas \u2013 and is usually confined to the outer layer of the skin, avoiding the hair follicles.<\/p>\n

\u2018This highlights the unusual status of hair follicle melanocytes in the melanoma story,\u2019 he adds.<\/p>\n

Unlocking that mystery, he believes, could one day protect patients from melanoma.<\/p>\n

Professor Bennett agrees: \u2018The key processes of cell senescence work \u00addifferently in mice and humans. It\u2019s probably why mice typically live for about two years and humans can live to 80 or more.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of us might reach for the hair dye the moment those first grey hairs appear. But a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-467463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dailymail","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}