Open Access<p>Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia. An Example of Disrupted Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Mediated Immunological Homeostasis in the Skin?</p>
Author(s) -
Rowland Noakes
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 1178-7015
DOI - 10.2147/ccid.s262803
Subject(s) - aryl hydrocarbon receptor , scarring alopecia , immunology , immune system , medicine , biology , dermatology , endocrinology , scalp , biochemistry , gene , transcription factor
Sun protection has been recommended by public health authorities to reduce the risk of keratinocyte and melanocyte tumors, yet some sun exposure is required for vitamin D synthesis. Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a cicatricial alopecia that has been reported to have an association with facial photoprotection. The brief review proposes the hypothesis that FFA arises as a result of excessive facial photo-protection with a resultant disturbance in immunological homeostasis mediated via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-kynurenine pathway axis (AHR/KP) leading to the collapse of immune privilege at the hair bulge.