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Identification of differentially expressed miRNAs in alopecia areata that target immune-regulatory pathways

Genes & Immunity volume 18, pages 100–104 (2017)Cite this article

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Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune condition that results in patchy to total hair loss due to an aberrant T-cell attack on the hair follicle.1 AA is a relatively common autoimmune condition that affects ~6.6 million individuals in the US across all ethnicities,2 but yet there is a paucity of effective treatments for this condition. Although the heritability of the disease is well recognized and further substantiated by our genome-wide association studies (GWAS)3, 4 with the identification of multiple risk loci in AA patients, the concordance rate in monozygotic twins is only 55%,5 suggesting epigenetic factors are involved in the pathophysiology of AA.

Epigenetic gene regulation mechanisms, particularly those involving microRNA (miRNA), in AA pathogenesis have not been well described. MiRNAs are small noncoding RNA molecules ~20 nucleotides long, and they have recently emerged as important translational regulators of genes in various tissues and biological processes involved in autoimmune responses.6, 7 Differential levels of circulating miRNAs have been identified in autoimmune diseases sharing similar pathogenic pathways to AA, such as rheumatoid arthritis8 and type I diabetes.9 Therefore, miRNAs may serve potential roles as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets in AA as well. In this study, we investigated the differential expression of miRNAs in the lesional skin of the C3H/HeJ mouse model of AA.10 The C3H/HeJ mouse model is one of the most well-defined animal model to study human AA and has been widely used as a pre-clinical model for drug testing in this disease.1, 11, 12

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Locks of Love Foundation for the generous support of this work. We also thank the support from P30AR069632 Columbia University Skin Disease Resource-Based Center (epiCURE) and P50AR070588 Alopecia Areata Center for Research Translation (AACORT) on experimental design and data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Dermatology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    E H C Wang, A V Patel, E Drill, S Harel, C Cela, M Tavazoie & A M Christiano

  2. Departments of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    G M DeStefano & A M Christiano

  3. Departments of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    E Drill

  4. Rgenix, Inc., New York, NY, USA

    M Tavazoie

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  1. E H C Wang
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Correspondence to A M Christiano.

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Wang, E., DeStefano, G., Patel, A. et al. Identification of differentially expressed miRNAs in alopecia areata that target immune-regulatory pathways. Genes Immun 18, 100–104 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2017.4

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