Dissecting susceptibility from exogenous triggers: the model of alopecia areata and associated inflammatory skin diseases

Abstract

AA patients have a higher incidence of various T-cell-driven inflammatory skin diseases than the normal population, a phenomenon which might relate to over-activation of skin-homing T cells and to specific immune triggers as the primary cause of inflammation. More importantly, we showed that by using AA as a model disease, our approach of intra-individual comparison of distinct inflammatory responses in the same patient is feasible and offers the unique possibility to gain insights into disease pathogenesis independent from genetic susceptibilities.