Autoantigen Screening in C3H/HeJ Mouse Model of Alopecia Areata Revealed High Antigenicity of Melanocyte-Associated Antigen Epitopes

April 2019 in “ The journal of investigative dermatology/Journal of investigative dermatology ”

E. Wang, S. Erjavec, Christina I. Tejeda, Angela M. Christiano

alopecia areata melanocyte-associated antigens CD8 T cell anagen stage melanosomal membrane glycoprotein OA1 SLC24A5 SLC45A2 antigen-specific tolerogenic therapies AA CD8 T cells anagen phase melanosomal glycoprotein OA1 protein SLC24A5 protein SLC45A2 protein tolerogenic therapies

TLDR Melanocyte-associated antigens may play a key role in alopecia areata and could be targets for new treatments.

The study investigated the role of melanocyte-associated antigens in alopecia areata (AA) using the C3H/HeJ mouse model. Researchers used a computer-assisted epitope prediction algorithm to design CD8 T cell-specific epitope sequences and isolated protein homogenates from AA-affected and normal-haired mice. They found that anagen stage protein homogenates induced higher CD8 T cell activation, particularly those with higher molecular weight, supporting the idea that AA is an anagen-specific disease. Epitopes from melanosomal membrane glycoprotein OA1 and transport proteins SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 showed significantly higher CD8 T cell activation. The findings suggested that these antigens might be involved in AA and could be targets for developing antigen-specific tolerogenic therapies.

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