Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo

Background The pathogenesis of nonsegmental vitiligo (NSV) and alopecia areata (AA) overlap in several aspects. In AA, the anagen hair follicle (HF) undergoes a collapse of immune privilege (IP). No previous studies assessed the IP of the HF in NSV. Objective To assess the IP in NSV compared with AA...

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Main Authors: Tag Anbar, Dalia A. Bassiouny, Marwa M. Fawzy, Zeinab El Maadawi, Mai M. Sewelam, Nesreen M.M. Aboraia
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2025-05-01
Series:Journal of the Egyptian Women’s Dermatologic Society
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Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jewd.jewd_77_24
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author Tag Anbar
Dalia A. Bassiouny
Marwa M. Fawzy
Zeinab El Maadawi
Mai M. Sewelam
Nesreen M.M. Aboraia
author_facet Tag Anbar
Dalia A. Bassiouny
Marwa M. Fawzy
Zeinab El Maadawi
Mai M. Sewelam
Nesreen M.M. Aboraia
author_sort Tag Anbar
collection DOAJ
description Background The pathogenesis of nonsegmental vitiligo (NSV) and alopecia areata (AA) overlap in several aspects. In AA, the anagen hair follicle (HF) undergoes a collapse of immune privilege (IP). No previous studies assessed the IP of the HF in NSV. Objective To assess the IP in NSV compared with AA. Patients and methods Twenty NSV with scalp lesions and 20 scalp AA patients were included in this prospective comparative study. Clinical assessment and immunohistochemical examination of punch biopsies from lesional and nonlesional scalp were done for interferon gamma (IFN-γ), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), major histocompatibility complex (MHC)I, and MHCII in the HF and epidermis. Results In AA, there was upregulation of IFN-γ and MHCI and downregulation of TGF-β1 denoting impaired IP in lesional compared with nonlesional HF. In NSV, no difference in IFN-γ was found between lesional and nonlesional HF. MHCI and MHCII were upregulated in lesional HF, while TGF-β1 was significantly lower in lesional HF. A significantly higher expression of IFN-γ and MHCI was detected in lesional epidermis compared with lesional HF in NSV patients. Lesional HF in AA showed significantly higher expression of IFN-γ and MHCI and significantly lower expression of TGF-β1 than lesional HF in NSV, denoting preserved IP in NSV. Conclusion IP is preserved in HF in NSV compared with AA, protecting the follicular melanocytes from autoimmune attacks.
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spelling doaj-art-7dc80534d868460e8f919da9ac33d1d82025-08-20T03:26:00ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of the Egyptian Women’s Dermatologic Society2090-25652025-05-0122215115910.4103/jewd.jewd_77_24Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligoTag AnbarDalia A. BassiounyMarwa M. FawzyZeinab El MaadawiMai M. SewelamNesreen M.M. AboraiaBackground The pathogenesis of nonsegmental vitiligo (NSV) and alopecia areata (AA) overlap in several aspects. In AA, the anagen hair follicle (HF) undergoes a collapse of immune privilege (IP). No previous studies assessed the IP of the HF in NSV. Objective To assess the IP in NSV compared with AA. Patients and methods Twenty NSV with scalp lesions and 20 scalp AA patients were included in this prospective comparative study. Clinical assessment and immunohistochemical examination of punch biopsies from lesional and nonlesional scalp were done for interferon gamma (IFN-γ), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), major histocompatibility complex (MHC)I, and MHCII in the HF and epidermis. Results In AA, there was upregulation of IFN-γ and MHCI and downregulation of TGF-β1 denoting impaired IP in lesional compared with nonlesional HF. In NSV, no difference in IFN-γ was found between lesional and nonlesional HF. MHCI and MHCII were upregulated in lesional HF, while TGF-β1 was significantly lower in lesional HF. A significantly higher expression of IFN-γ and MHCI was detected in lesional epidermis compared with lesional HF in NSV patients. Lesional HF in AA showed significantly higher expression of IFN-γ and MHCI and significantly lower expression of TGF-β1 than lesional HF in NSV, denoting preserved IP in NSV. Conclusion IP is preserved in HF in NSV compared with AA, protecting the follicular melanocytes from autoimmune attacks.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jewd.jewd_77_24hair follicleinterferon gammaimmune privilegemajor histocompatibility complexnonsegmental vitiligotransforming growth factor beta
spellingShingle Tag Anbar
Dalia A. Bassiouny
Marwa M. Fawzy
Zeinab El Maadawi
Mai M. Sewelam
Nesreen M.M. Aboraia
Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
Journal of the Egyptian Women’s Dermatologic Society
hair follicle
interferon gamma
immune privilege
major histocompatibility complex
nonsegmental vitiligo
transforming growth factor beta
title Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
title_full Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
title_fullStr Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
title_short Exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
title_sort exploring the hair follicle immune privilege state in nonsegmental vitiligo
topic hair follicle
interferon gamma
immune privilege
major histocompatibility complex
nonsegmental vitiligo
transforming growth factor beta
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jewd.jewd_77_24
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AT daliaabassiouny exploringthehairfollicleimmuneprivilegestateinnonsegmentalvitiligo
AT marwamfawzy exploringthehairfollicleimmuneprivilegestateinnonsegmentalvitiligo
AT zeinabelmaadawi exploringthehairfollicleimmuneprivilegestateinnonsegmentalvitiligo
AT maimsewelam exploringthehairfollicleimmuneprivilegestateinnonsegmentalvitiligo
AT nesreenmmaboraia exploringthehairfollicleimmuneprivilegestateinnonsegmentalvitiligo