Current and Potential Agents for the Treatment of Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is considered to be a T cell mediated autoimmune disease of the hair follicle. Current immunosuppressive approaches and immunomodulatory treatment with contact sensitizers such as diphenylcyclopropenone and squaric acid dibutylester are dealt with in this review article. The efficacy of the various modes of treatment is evaluated by a review of literature and their mode of action is discussed. In accordance with the mechanism of autoimmune pathogenesis of AA, improved future treatments may be immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory, or they should otherwise protect the hair follicle from the injurious effects of the inflammation. Such possible future therapeutic approaches include the use of liposomes as an improved vehicle, application of immunosuppressive cytokines like TGF beta and IL 10, inhibition of apoptosis mediated by the Fas FasL system, inhibition of the lymphocyte homing receptor CD44v10, induction of tolerance as well as principles of gene therapy.