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Scientific article
English

Alopecia areata but not androgenetic alopecia is characterized by a restricted and oligoclonal T-cell receptor-repertoire among infiltrating lymphocytes

Published inJournal of cutaneous pathology, vol. 24, no. 3, p. 164-168
Publication date1997
Abstract

Although the etiology of alopecia areata is still unknown, evidence has accumulated to support an autoimmune pathogenesis for this disease. To evaluate the role of T cells in alopecia areata the T-cell receptor VB-repertoire was investigated in lesional skin and blood of 5 patients by means of a semiquantitative technique based on the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Three patients with androgenetic alopecia served as controls. Amplification products were screened for clonality by temperature gradient gel electrophoresis. Four of 5 patients with alopecia areata exhibited a lesional T-cell receptor-repertoire characterized by an almost exclusive utilization of variable regions beta 2, 4, and 13. Temperature gradient gel electrophoresis revealed the oligoclonal constitution of the infiltrate. The restricted nature of the lesional T-lymphocytic infiltrate in alopecia areata strongly suggests that an antigen-specific T-cell response plays an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Keywords
  • Adult
  • Alopecia/*immunology/pathology
  • Alopecia Areata/*immunology/pathology
  • Cell Movement/*immunology
  • Clone Cells
  • Humans
  • Multigene Family/immunology
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/*genetics
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets/*metabolism/pathology
Affiliation Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
DRESSEL, Daniela et al. Alopecia areata but not androgenetic alopecia is characterized by a restricted and oligoclonal T-cell receptor-repertoire among infiltrating lymphocytes. In: Journal of cutaneous pathology, 1997, vol. 24, n° 3, p. 164–168. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0560.1997.tb01571.x
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ISSN of the journal0303-6987
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