A Preliminary Study On The Immunological Mechanisms Of Alopecia Areata In Children

Background and objective: Alopecia Areata (AA) is a kind of chronic inflammatory disease with the characteristic symptom of hair loss. For children who suffered from AA, not only their appearances, but also their mental developments were influenced.The incidence of AA in children is increasing year and year, while the etiology and the mechanism of the disease are not well known. Nowadays, it's commonly accepted that AA belongs to autoimmune diseases by T-lymphocyte mediated, and the studies focused on the relationship between cellular immunity and the mechanism of AA. Some research shows that T-lymphocyte and cytokine affected perifollicular epithelium are important to the occurrence of AA,mainly by the Th1 cytokines modulating. Th1/Th2 immunoregulation disturbance may lead to AA.But data in children is rare.In this study, the immunological mechanism of AA in children is preliminarily studied. In part I, Since the balance between Th1/Th2 is quite important in the mechanism of AA, the changes of serum IFN-γ, IL-12, IL-4 and IL-10 levels were detected before and after 3 months treatment of...