Vasoactive intestinal peptide, whose receptor-mediated signalling may be defective in alopecia areata, provides protection from hair follicle immune privilege collapse

摘要

BackgroundAlopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disorder whose pathogenesis involves the collapse of the relative immune privilege (IP) of the hair follicle (HF). Given that vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is an immunoinhibitory neuropeptide released by perifollicular sensory nerve fibres, which play a role in IP maintenance, it may modulate human HF-IP and thus be therapeutically relevant for AA.