- Reaction score
- 320
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352512618300158
We report on a patient with psoriasis who experienced darkening and noticeable increase in scalp hair while he was receiving anti–interleukin (IL)-17 therapy.
A 61-year-old man with a 2-year history of plaque psoriasis treated only with topical steroids and calcipotriol
After 6 months of therapy with secukinumab, the patient, who also had androgenetic alopeciatype II/III noticed that his scalp hair, which had been totally gray/white for 10 years was becoming darker over the entire scalp with a diffuse increased hair density of approximately 15%
Repigmentation of hairs has been associated with the intake of various drugs including latanoprost, thalidomide, lenalidomide, para-aminobenzoic acid, corticosteroids, cyclosporine, L-thyroxine, verapamil, tamoxifen, levodopa, cisplatin, retinoids, and, most recently, with targeted anticancer therapies
-> In our patient, we attributed his hair darkening and thickening to increased anagen growth phase, as a result of a changed immune control over the hair cycle removing the inhibitory influences of IL-17 after secukinumab administration. In fact, IL-17 may increase the synthesis of antimelanogenic cytokine IL-6 in cultured normal human melanocytes.7 Moreover, a synergistic effect on melanocytes from IL-17 and TNF-α, both inhibiting pigmentation-related signaling and melanin production and inducing keratinocyte production of β-defensin-3 (an antagonist for melanocortin 1 receptor), have been described.
-> Actually, blockade of TNF-α and IL-17 resulted in a restoration of pigmentation gene expression
-> Hair darkening and regrowth after administration of some drugs suggests that hair whitening and thinning caused by the aging process might be reversible
We report on a patient with psoriasis who experienced darkening and noticeable increase in scalp hair while he was receiving anti–interleukin (IL)-17 therapy.
A 61-year-old man with a 2-year history of plaque psoriasis treated only with topical steroids and calcipotriol
After 6 months of therapy with secukinumab, the patient, who also had androgenetic alopeciatype II/III noticed that his scalp hair, which had been totally gray/white for 10 years was becoming darker over the entire scalp with a diffuse increased hair density of approximately 15%
Repigmentation of hairs has been associated with the intake of various drugs including latanoprost, thalidomide, lenalidomide, para-aminobenzoic acid, corticosteroids, cyclosporine, L-thyroxine, verapamil, tamoxifen, levodopa, cisplatin, retinoids, and, most recently, with targeted anticancer therapies
-> In our patient, we attributed his hair darkening and thickening to increased anagen growth phase, as a result of a changed immune control over the hair cycle removing the inhibitory influences of IL-17 after secukinumab administration. In fact, IL-17 may increase the synthesis of antimelanogenic cytokine IL-6 in cultured normal human melanocytes.7 Moreover, a synergistic effect on melanocytes from IL-17 and TNF-α, both inhibiting pigmentation-related signaling and melanin production and inducing keratinocyte production of β-defensin-3 (an antagonist for melanocortin 1 receptor), have been described.
-> Actually, blockade of TNF-α and IL-17 resulted in a restoration of pigmentation gene expression
-> Hair darkening and regrowth after administration of some drugs suggests that hair whitening and thinning caused by the aging process might be reversible
