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Finally some encouraging news for alopecia areata victims.
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has found a key factor that cause alopecia areata. The findings were published in December's issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that affects close to 2 percent of the population. Up to this date, very little is known about alopecia areata. Most scientists suggest that this condition is triggered when the affected hair follicles are mistakenly attacked by the patient's own immune system or white blood cells. Alopecia areata is usually charaterized by one or more small, round, smooth bald patches on the scalp and can progress to total scalp hair loss (alopecia totalis) or complete body hair loss (alopecia universalis), according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.
While it has been widely suggested that white blood cells (our immune system) attack hair follicles in alopecia areata patients, it is never clear why or how the attack is triggered. Now researchers have identified that a certain protein generated by hair pigment-producing cells is the culprit.
Specifically, the attack on hair follicles is triggered when our body mistakens the protein as foreign substances and activates our immune system / white blood cells to attack the substances.
This finding is significant because now that the "trigger" has been identified, researchers can focus on a cure for the disease. It has been suggested that treatments may involve desensitizing the body's immune system to the protein that triggers the attack.
The study was led by Dr. Amos Gilhar, associate professor at the Technion Faculty of Medicine. It was conducted at the Flieman Geriatric Rehabiliation Hospital in Haifa,
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