•  
  •  
 

Subject Area

Internal Medicine

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective The aim was to study the role of CXCL12 in patients with alopecia areata. Background Alopecia areata is an organ-specific autoimmune disease targeting the hair follicles. It causes nonscarring hair loss. It is a lymphocyte cell-mediated inflammatory type of hair loss. Chemokines are the main components of the immune system and play fundamental roles in pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders. CXCL12 is an ELR-CXC chemokine with angiogenic effects. CXCL12 (as ELR-) is strongly chemotactic for lymphocytes and neutrophils. It is plausible that failed angiogenesis in the alopecia areata patients are involved in hair loss. As CXCL12 is an angiogenic chemokine, decreased CXCL12 levels may possibly in turn lead to decreased angiogenesis and cause hair loss in the patients. Patients and methods This case–control study was conducted on 50 participants: 25 patients with alopecia areata and 25 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls during the period from February 2018 to August 2018. All patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations. Serum CXCL12 chemokine levels were measured by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Results Serum CXCL12 levels were significantly decreased in alopecia areata patients (mean: 15.55 ± 6.35) compared with healthy controls (mean: 46.94 ± 41.42) (P = 0.005). There is negative significant correlation between CXCL12 and duration of disease (r = −0.491, P = 0.013). Conclusion CXCL12 chemokine is decreased in patients with alopecia areata. There is a dependent relationship between CXCL12 serum level and AA. It can be used as a diagnostic biomarker of AA activity.

Download

Share

COinS