Minoxidil may suppress androgen receptor-related functions.

Oncotarget. 2014 Apr 8.
Minoxidil may suppress androgen receptor-related functions.
Hsu CL1, Liu JS, Lin AC, Yang CH, Chung WH, Wu WG.

Although minoxidil has been used for more than two decades to treat androgenetic alopecia (AGA), an androgen-androgen receptor (AR) pathway-dominant disease, its precise mechanism of action remains elusive. We hypothesized that minoxidil may influence the AR or its downstream signaling. These tests revealed that minoxidil suppressed AR-related functions, decreasing AR transcriptional activity in reporter assays, reducing expression of AR targets at the protein level, and suppressing AR-positive LNCaP cell growth. Dissecting the underlying mechanisms, we found that minoxidil interfered with AR-peptide, AR-coregulator, and AR N/C-terminal interactions, as well as AR protein stability. Furthermore, a crystallographic analysis using the AR ligand-binding domain (LBD) revealed direct binding of minoxidil to the AR in a minoxidil-AR-LBD co-crystal model, and surface plasmon resonance assays demonstrated that minoxidil directly bound the AR with a Kd value of 2.6 µM. Minoxidil also suppressed AR-responsive reporter activity and decreased AR protein stability in human hair dermal papilla cells. The current findings provide evidence that minoxidil could be used to treat both cancer and age-related disease, and open a new avenue for applications of minoxidil in treating androgen-AR pathway-related diseases.

Hopefully most of us here are on board with the fact that minoxidil is poison. Who wants to age faster?

This study points to a new identified mechanism of its action. There are certainly safer was to reduce the action of the androgen receptor.

Interesting, but what are safer way that are as much potent as minoxidil?

JamesDean wrote:Interesting, but what are safer way that are as much potent as minoxidil?

topical melatonin ?

Unfortunately, minox has been the most effective remedy for my hair loss over the years, although it has lost its effectiveness slowly year by year.

I've been on it for about 5 years, every time I go off it my hair takes a big hit. Anyone have any luck tapering off minox lately?

I quit it cold turkey, huge shed have since regained more than the minox gave me going natural.