This article is taken from the monthly Sciences et Avenir – La Recherche n°903, dated May 2022.
Baricitinib, a drug used for rheumatoid arthritis, has been shown to restore hair to patients with alopecia areata, also called alopecia areata.
1200 patients included in the study
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that results in the sudden loss of entire patches of hair due to the attack of hair follicles by deregulated immune cells. In this phase 3 clinical trial, the results of which are published by the New England Journal of Medicinethe Yale University team (United States) observed that a third of the 1200 patients included in their study had responded spectacularly to the treatment, while all had lost at least half of their hair and many had one more.
Credit: YALE UNIVERSITY
Treatment disrupts immune cell communication
The researchers explain that baricitinib thwarts the disease by disrupting the communication of immune cells involved in attacking hair follicles, as it already does against joint disease.
–
–
