Milène Kennedy Crispin, Justin M Ko, Brittany G Craiglow, Shufeng Li, Gautam Shankar, Jennifer R Urban, James C Chen, Jane E Cerise, Ali Jabbari, Mårten Cg Winge, M Peter Marinkovich, Angela M Christiano, Anthony E Oro, Brett A King
BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by hair loss mediated by CD8+ T cells. There are no reliably effective therapies for AA. Based on recent developments in the understanding of the pathomechanism of AA, JAK inhibitors appear to be a therapeutic option; however, their efficacy for the treatment of AA has not been systematically examined. METHODS: This was a 2-center, open-label, single-arm trial using the pan-JAK inhibitor, tofacitinib citrate, for AA with >50% scalp hair loss, alopecia totalis (AT), and alopecia universalis (AU)...
September 22, 2016: JCI Insight