Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation Meeting, May 2016: Progress Towards the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Cure of Primary Cicatricial Alopecias

The Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation meeting in May 2016 addressed primary cicatricial alopecias (PCAs), diseases causing irreversible hair follicle destruction and scarring. Over 100 attendees reviewed current knowledge and set research priorities, focusing on lichen planopilaris (LPP), frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA), and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA). The report emphasized the challenges in diagnosing PCAs due to scarring by the time patients seek treatment and discussed new technologies like transcriptome and lipidome analysis for understanding disease pathogenesis. It also highlighted the use of mouse models, clinicopathological correlations, dermoscopy, and biopsy in PCA research. The document noted the unknown etiopathogenesis of PCAs but suggested potential causes such as loss of immune privilege, inflammatory responses, and genetic factors. It also mentioned the use of large biorepositories for epidemiological and genetic research, including GWAS and PheWAS, and the role of sebaceous gland dysfunction in some PCAs. The meeting set research goals for standardized sample collection, gene expression studies, computational analysis for drug discovery, and microbiome studies, while acknowledging the limitations of animal models in replicating human PCAs.