ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07716748Updated Jul 21, 2026

For an Investigator-led Hair Study Comparing Between Healthy and Hair Loss Volunteers

An observational study in Hair Loss, sponsored by National Skin Centre. Not yet recruiting. Open to male participants aged 21 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-21.

Sponsored by National Skin Centre · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
66
Ages
21 Years to 45 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

This study is to evaluate differences in the gut and follicle/scalp microbiome signature in AGA compared to a non-AGA population. Also, to investigate differences in inflammation and other biomarkers in AGA compared to non-AGA population at baseline and after a successful treatment

02

Conditions studied

  • Hair Loss

Browse trials for

03

In context

Alopecia

511 studies on the registry are indexed under Alopecia; 128 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 66 is below the median of 95 across 52 observational studies indexed under Alopecia.

Browse Alopecia studies →

Lead sponsor

National Skin Centre is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 3 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
21 Years to 45 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

AGA volunteers will be referred by clinicians from National Skin Centre Healthy volunteers will be recruited by recruitment posters at National Skin Centre

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Male volunteer from 21 to 45 years old
  2. Volunteer with between 18.5 to 30 kg/m2
  3. Volunteer willing and able to fulfill the study requirements and schedule
  4. Volunteer willing to give their stool sample, as well as swabs, follicles, and blood.
  5. Volunteer informed about the study objectives and procedures, and able to understand them
  6. Volunteer who has given written

Volunteers in the healthy control panel must satisfy the following criteria:

  1. Volunteer in overall good health
  2. Volunteer with no diagnosis of hair loss or other condition or treatment susceptible to impact hair count and microbiome.

Volunteers in the AGA panel must satisfy the following criteria:

  1. Volunteer diagnosed with Androgenetic Alopecia grade III Vertex to V on the Hamilton-Norwood scale
  2. Volunteer willing to restrain from the use of any additional hair loss oral and topical pharmaceuticals (ex: topical minoxidil) over the course of the study
  3. Volunteer eligible to undergo oral minoxidil treatment, with no

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Volunteer with severe gastro-intestinal symptoms (including gluten and lactose intolerance)
  2. Volunteer with auto-immune disease, diabetes; hyper or hypo-thyroidism ; chronic kidney failure
  3. Volunteer with diagnosis of scalp-related disease such as folliculitis, lichen planopilaris, folliculitis decalvans, tinea capitis, head lice, or seborrheic dermatitis
  4. Volunteer undergoing hypertension treatment
  5. Volunteer who undertook any oral anti-hair loss pharmaceutical treatment in the past 3 months (e.g. Finasteride)
  6. Volunteer who undertakes any hormone-disrupting drug
  7. Volunteer who used topical minoxidil or other pharmaceutical-grade topical hair restorers in the past 3 months
  8. Volunteer with a total dandruff score above 1 on the L'Oreal Dandruff scale.
  9. Volunteer who used perms or hair dyes in the past 2 months
  10. Volunteer who underwent scalp reduction or hair transplant procedures
  11. Volunteer who declares to be deprived of freedom by administrative or legal decision
  12. Volunteer who cannot be contacted by phone in case of emergency
  13. Volunteer having currently participating in another clinical study
  14. Volunteer who used antibiotics or antifungal medication (topical to scalp and systemic) in the past 4 weeks
  15. Volunteer who used probiotics supplements in the past 4 weeks. (dietary probiotics such as yogurt, kefir, and kimchi are acceptable)
  16. Volunteer who follows a non-conventional diet (e.g. vegan, ketogenic, strict intermittent fasting diets)

Non-inclusion Criteria:

  1. Volunteer diagnosed with , ,
  2. Volunteer with severe gastro-intestinal symptoms (including gluten and lactose intolerance)
  3. Volunteer with auto-immune disease, diabetes; hyper or hypo-thyroidism ; chronic kidney failure
  4. Volunteer with diagnosis of scalp-related disease such as folliculitis, lichen planopilaris, folliculitis decalvans, tinea capitis, head lice, or seborrheic dermatitis
  5. Volunteer undergoing hypertension treatment
  6. Volunteer who undertook any oral anti-hair loss pharmaceutical treatment in the past 3 months (e.g. Finasteride)
  7. Volunteer who undertakes any hormone-disrupting drug
  8. Volunteer who used topical minoxidil or other pharmaceutical-grade topical hair restorers in the past 3 months
  9. Volunteer with a total dandruff score above 1 on the L'Oreal Dandruff scale.
  10. Volunteer who used perms or hair dyes in the past 2 months
  11. Volunteer who underwent scalp reduction or hair transplant procedures
  12. Volunteer who declares to be deprived of freedom by administrative or legal decision
  13. Volunteer who cannot be contacted by phone in case of emergency
  14. Volunteer having currently participating in another clinical study
  15. Volunteer who used antibiotics or antifungal medication (topical to scalp and systemic) in the past 4 weeks
  16. Volunteer who used probiotics supplements in the past 4 weeks. (dietary probiotics such as yogurt, kefir, and kimchi are acceptable)
  17. Volunteer who follows a non-conventional diet (e.g. vegan, ketogenic, strict intermittent fasting diets)
  18. Volunteer who used anti-dandruff shampoo in the past 4 weeks (For example, commonly used brands for anti-dandruffs could be : Head \& Shoulders, Sebamed, Clear, Dove, Pantene, L'OREAL, Vichy Dercos)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(6)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

05

Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
66 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples with dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Healthy

    With no hair loss

  • AGA patients

    With hairloss

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Norwoord-Hamiton scale hairloss severity

    Scale from 1 (no hair loss) to 7 (severe hair loss)

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. Change in hair density

    Change from baseline in hair density at the vertex, crown and occipital zones Unit: u/cm2

    Time frame: 6 months

  3. Metabolomic profiling of the stool

    Change in concentration of metabolites in the stool of AGA vs healthy cohorts.

    Time frame: 6 months

  4. Gut and Scalp/Follicle Microbiome Signature Differences at Baseline

    Taxonomic and functional composition of the gut and scalp/hair follicle microbiome. Units: relative abundance

    Time frame: Baseline

  5. Change in proteomic profile

    Change in protein expression levels in scalp swabs samples, and differences between AGA and healthy cohorts.

    Time frame: 6 months

  6. Change in Gene Expression Profiles (Transcriptomics)

    Evaluation of differentially expressed genes via spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) from scalp biopsy samples comparing AGA participants to healthy controls. Units: Log2 Fold Change (or "Normalized Gene Expression Counts")

    Time frame: 6 months

  7. Metabolomic profile in blood/plasma

    Change in concentration of metabolites in blood/plasma

    Time frame: 6 months

  8. Proteomic profiling of the blood

    Change in proteins concentration levels in blood/plasma

    Time frame: 6 months

  9. Change in hair diameter distribution

    Change from baseline in hair shaft diameter. Unit: µm

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Eyebrow to hairline measurement

    The distance from the eyebrow to the hairline is one indicator of the recession of hairline

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. Dandruff scoring

    The dandruff score ranges from 0 (no dandruff state) to 5 (very important dandruff state) for both adherent and non-adherent dandruffs

    Time frame: 6 months

  3. Change in Subject-Reported Hair Density

    Evaluation of the volunteer's perceived change in hair density since the start of the study (assessed via self-assessment questionnaire). Scale : improvements range from "worsened significantly" to "improved significantly"

    Time frame: 6 months

  4. Measurement of sebum levels

    Measure sebum levels on the forehead and scalp

    Time frame: 6 months

  5. Gut Microbiome in Oral Minoxidil Treatment Response

    Association between gut microbiome composition (metabolomics and metagenomics from stool and blood/plasma) and clinical response to oral minoxidil treatment.

    Time frame: 6 months

  6. Change in Follicular Units Distribution

    Change from baseline in percentage of single, double, triple... follicular units.

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Non-identifiable data will be shared with funding/research partners.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form, Clinical study report

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Aug 2026; primary completion for Jan 2028, 17 months later.

Of 18 observational studies under Alopecia, half reached primary completion within 20 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 38. This study's planned 17 months is below that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 1, 2026
First posted
Jul 21, 2026
StartEst.
Aug 2026
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2028
CompletionEst.
Jan 2028
Last update
Jul 21, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 21, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07716748
Lead sponsor
National Skin Centre
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 21, 2026
Start date
Aug 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jan 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 21, 2026

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jul 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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