Alopecia Areata and malignancies: uncertainties clarified by a large-scale population-based study.

The association of AA with malignancies has been a scope of controversy as the current literature is highly inconsistent in this regard. To evaluate the association between AA and hematological malignancies (HMs) and solid malignancies (SMs) using a large-scale, real-life computerized database. A cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the prevalence of HMs and SMs among patients with AA relative to age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched control subjects.

Involvement of ILC1-like innate lymphocytes in human autoimmunity, lessons from alopecia areata.

Here, we have explored the involvement of innate lymphoid cells-type 1 (ILC1) in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata (AA), because we found them to be significantly increased around lesional and non-lesional HFs of AA patients. To further explore these unexpected findings, we first co-cultured autologous circulating ILC1-like cells (ILC1lc) with healthy, but stressed, organ-cultured human scalp hair follicles (HFs). ILClc induced all hallmarks of AA ex vivo: they significantly promoted premature, apoptosis-driven HF regression (catagen), HF cytotoxicity/dystrophy, and most important for AA pathogenesis, the collapse of the HFs physiological immune privilege.

Is pyoderma gangrenosum associated with solid malignancies? Insights from a population-based cohort study.

Background: The question of whether solid malignancies (SMs) are associated with pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) remains to be conclusively answered.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of SM among patients with PG and the odds of PG after a diagnosis of SM.

Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted to study the risk for SM in patients with PG (n = 302) as compared with age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched control subjects (n = 1799).

Chronic renal comorbidities in pyoderma gangrenosum: a retrospective cohort study.

The coexistence of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) and chronic renal comorbidities has been reported anecdotally. We aimed to assess the bidirectional association between PG and the following chronic renal comorbidities: chronic renal failure (CRF), dialysis, kidney transplantation (KT), and other kidney diseases (OKD). That is to evaluate (i) the risk of the aforementioned diseases among patients with PG (ii) and the odds of PG after a diagnosis of renal comorbidities.

Mouse Models of Alopecia Areata: C3H/HeJ Mice Versus the Humanized AA Mouse Model.

The C3H/HeJ model has long dominated basic alopecia areata (AA) in vivo research and has been used as proof-of-principle that Jak inhibitors are suitable agents for AA management in vivo. However, its histologic features are not typical of human AA, and it is questionable whether it is sufficiently clinically predictive for evaluating the therapeutic effects of candidate AA agents. Instead, the humanized mouse model of AA has been used to functionally demonstrate the role of key immune cells in AA pathogenesis and to discover human-specific pharmacologic targets in AA management.

Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Is Increased in Patients with Pemphigus: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) has recently emerged as an inflammatory marker in several inflammatory diseases but has not been investigated in patients with pemphigus.

Objective: We aimed to examine RDW percentage in patients with pemphigus relative to control subjects and to assess the association between this biomarker and the morphological characteristics of the disease.

Methods: This case-control study included 183 pemphigus patients and 915 age- and sex-matched control subjects.

Frontiers in alopecia areata pathobiology research.

This current review explores selected and as yet insufficiently investigated frontiers in current alopecia areata (AA) pathobiology research, with an emphasis on potential "new" players in AA pathobiology that deserve more systematic exploration and therapeutic targeting. Indeed, new evidence suggests that CD8 T cells, which have long been thought to be the central players in AA pathobiology, are not the only drivers of disease. Instead, subsets of natural killer (NK) and so-called "unconventional" T cells (invariant NK T cells, γδ T cells, classic NK cells, and type 1 innate lymphoid cells), all of which can produce large amounts of IFN-γ, might also drive AA pathobiology independent of classical, autoantigen-dependent CD8 T-cell functions.

The relationship between pemphigus and systemic lupus erythematosus: a cross-sectional study, systematic review, and meta-analysis.

The coexistence of pemphigus and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) had been reported anecdotally. Anti-desmoglein (Dsg)1 and anti-Dsg3 antibodies were detected concomitantly with antinuclear autoantibodies among blood donors. The aim of the current study was to study the association between pemphigus and SLE in Israeli patients and to synthesize existing data on this association in the current literature.