Researchers Investigate Baricitinib as Alopecia Areata Treatment

added 6th March 2015

Baricitinib is the latest JAK inhibitor drug to be explored in relation to the potential treatment of Alopecia Areata.

This follows on from similar studies into the possible suitability of ruxolitinib as an effective Alopecia Areata treatment, and tofacitinib as a treatment for Alopecia Universalis.

Although there is currently no proven cure for alopecia, research in the area of JAK inhibitors is proving promising. This new investigation notes that this is due to previous studies ‘identifying a prominent interferon signature in Alopecia Areata, which signals through JAK molecules’.

The baricitinib trial was headed up by a team of Israeli and American researchers, including the eminent professor, Angela M Christiano of Columbia University’s Department of Dermatology, who has personal experience of alopecia. It came about after a patient being treated for concomitant CANDLE syndrome, but who also had Alopecia Areata, was seen to experience a ‘striking improvement’ of his patchy hair loss caused by the autoimmune condition, whilst taking the drug.

Combat Hair Loss - Clinical response to baricitinib in CANDLE patient with AA

Scalp photos of the CANDLE patient with AA prior to and during treatment with baricitinib. Timeline showing the approximate dates that photographs were taken and period in which the patient was being treated with baricitinib

In the study abstract published on the eBioMedicine website, it explains how ‘In vivo, preclinical studies were conducted using the C3H/HeJ AA mouse model to assess the mechanism of clinical improvement by baricitinib’. These subsequent hair growth animal trials took place at Columbia University and involved graft-recipient test mice being treated topically with baricitinib or a placebo. Photographs were taken 12 weeks after this treatment and their hair regrowth was measured and recorded, the findings from which can be seen below.

As a result, the research team concluded that baricitinib showed definite promise in relation to the treatment of alopecia and warrants further investigation via clinical trials.

Study Charts Showing Treatment of AA in C3H/HeJ mouse model

Study Charts Showing Treatment of AA in C3H/HeJ mouse model

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