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Biomarkers of alopecia areata disease activity and response to corticosteroid treatment

  • Judilyn Fuentes-Duculan
  • , Nicholas Gulati
  • , Kathleen M. Bonifacio
  • , Norma Kunjravia
  • , Xiuzhong Zheng
  • , Mayte Suárez-Fariñas
  • , Avner Shemer
  • , Emma Guttman-Yassky
  • , James G. Krueger*
  • *Corresponding author for this work
  • Rockefeller University
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

84 Scopus citations

Abstract

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common inflammatory disease targeting the anagen-stage hair follicle. Different cytokines have been implicated in the disease profile, but their pathogenic role is not yet fully determined. We studied biopsies of pretreatment lesional and non-lesional (NL) scalp and post-treatment (intra-lesional steroid injection) lesional scalp of 6 patchy patients with AA using immunohistochemistry and gene expression analysis. Immunohistochemistry showed increases in CD3+, CD8+ T cells, CD11c+ dendritic cells and CD1a+ Langerhans cells within and around hair follicles of pretreatment lesional scalp, which decreased upon treatment. qRT-PCR showed in pretreatment lesional scalp (compared to NL) significant increases (P < 0.05) in expression of inflammatory markers (IL-2, IL-2RA, JAK3, IL-15), Th1 (CXCL10 and CXCL9), Th2 (IL-13, CCL17 and CCL18), IL-12/IL-23p40 and IL-32. Among these, we observed significant downregulation with treatment in IL-12/IL-23p40, CCL18 and IL-32. We also observed significant downregulation of several hair keratins in lesional scalp, with significant upregulation of KRT35, KRT75 and KRT86 in post-treatment lesional scalp. This study shows concurrent activation of Th1 and Th2 immune axes as well as IL-23 and IL-32 cytokine pathways in lesional AA scalp and defined a series of response biomarkers to corticosteroid injection. Clinical trials with selective antagonists coupled with cytokine-pathway biomarkers will be necessary to further dissect pathogenic immunity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)282-286
Number of pages5
JournalExperimental Dermatology
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2016
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institutes of HealthUL1 RR024143
National Institute of General Medical SciencesT32GM007739
National Center for Research ResourcesUL1 TR000043
Dermatology Foundation
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

    Keywords

    • Alopecia areata
    • Biomarkers
    • Hair keratins
    • Inflammatory cytokines

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