Researchers have developed a new treatment to reverse hair loss caused by the autoimmune disease alopecia areata using microneedle patches that painlessly target affected areas of the skin.
Alopecia areata causes hair loss when T cells mistakenly attack hair follicles. To restore control to overactive immune cells, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology administered T-cell regulatory factors directly to the area of hair loss to halt autoimmune activity. The findings, published in Advanced Materials, demonstrated a significant and sustained increase in hair regrowth in a mouse model of the disease.
Our immune system evolved to protect against overactivation that occurs in autoimmune conditions. In alopecia areata, specialized cells known as regulatory T cells (T-regs) fail to protect the hair follicles. Current immunosuppressive drugs used to treat alopecia areata target both T cells and T-regs, so they do not address the underlying problem and pose a risk of disease recurrence if treatment is discontinued. will increase. By suppressing the entire immune system, patients become more vulnerable to infections.
The approach tested in this study directly restores immune activity locally at the site of hair loss by increasing T-reg levels, rather than globally suppressing the immune system. This targeted approach was achieved with microneedle patches, which deliver drugs throughout the tough outer layer of the skin more effectively than topical creams and avoid stimulating pain receptors deep within the skin.
“Our strategy addresses two major challenges in treating autoimmune skin diseases,” said co-author Natalie Artzi of the Brighams School of Medicine and Engineering. “Our patch enables local delivery of biologics to promote regulatory T cells in the skin instead of suppressing the immune system. This restores immune balance and increases T cell access to hair follicles. This provides a potential long-term solution to the attack without compromising the immune system’s ability to defend itself against infections and malignancies.”
“For autoimmune-mediated skin diseases that have direct access to the skin, we have to move beyond the use of systemic immunosuppressants that shut down the entire immune system,” said co-author Jamil Azzi, an immunologist at Brighams. said. Internal medicine nephrology. “While topical therapies are often unable to penetrate the outer layers of the skin, our patch improves local delivery of biologics to deeper layers of diseased skin and builds tolerance at the site of antigen encounter. Reprogram your immune system to produce.”
“Our strategy addresses two major challenges in the treatment of autoimmune skin diseases.”
Natalie Artzi
Researchers, including co-lead authors Nour Younis and Nouria Puigmal, used RNA sequencing to identify changes in the signal transducer STAT-5/interleukin-2 (IL-2) in alopecia tissue. I observed something. Pathways that promote T-reg proliferation. The researchers loaded the microneedle patches with IL-2 and CCL22, which had previously been shown to attract T-regs to specific areas and expand their presence. The patch was applied 10 times over three weeks to a mouse model of alopecia and observed over eight weeks. Hair regrowth was observed as early as 3 weeks after starting treatment. The researchers also tested a microneedle patch formulated with baricitinib, which is approved for the treatment of severe alopecia areata, but found that T-reg recruitment was inferior to that associated with the IL-2/CCL22 patch. discovered.
Microneedle patches were also found to have good storage stability, improving prospects for clinical application. This treatment is not ready for clinical use, but researchers are working on further development and testing. Additionally, they are exploring the possibility of applying their approach to other immune-mediated skin diseases such as vitiligo and psoriasis.
“Microneedles offer a promising means for targeted and local delivery of therapeutic agents to the skin,” Artzi said. “The ability to precisely administer drugs directly to the affected area of the skin allows for more effective modulation of the immune response while minimizing systemic side effects. This targeted approach It has great potential to improve outcomes and reduce the burden on patients’ lives of autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases.”
Brigham’s other co-authors include Andrew Badaoui, Dongliang Zhang, Claudia Morales, Anis Saad, Diane Cruz, Nadim Al Rahy, Andrea Daccache, Triana Huerta, Christa Deban, Ahmad Halawi, John Choi, Pere Dosta, Christine Lian, and Abdallah. Contains El. Kurdish.
Funding: The Brigham and Women’s Hospital School of Medicine supported this research through an Ignite Fund Award and a Shark Tank Fund Award.
