Cross-sectional study of blood biomarkers of patients with moderate to severe alopecia areata reveals systemic immune and cardiovascular biomarker dysregulation

Abstract

Background: Although there is increased understanding of the alopecia areata (AA) pathogenesis based on studies in scalp tissues, little is known about its systemic profile. Objective: To evaluate the blood proteomic signature of AA and determine biomarkers associated with increased disease severity. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we assessed 350 inflammatory and cardiovascular proteins using OLINK high-throughput proteomics in patients with moderate to severe AA (n = 35), as compared with healthy individuals (n = 36), patients with moderate to severe psoriasis (n = 19), and those with atopic dermatitis (n = 49). Results: Seventy-four proteins were significantly differentially expressed between AA and control individuals (false discovery rate,