Methods in Inflammatory Hair Disease Research: Enhanced Multiplex Imaging on Alopecia Areata Tissue Sections

The study explores the use of Imaging Mass Cytometry (IMC) to enhance the analysis of inflammatory hair diseases, specifically alopecia areata (AA). By optimizing a panel of markers for tissue architecture, immune infiltration, and activation on both non-lesional and lesional AA tissue sections, the researchers successfully demonstrated multiplex staining using the Hyperion Imaging System. Key findings include the identification of various cell types and markers in the hair follicle bulb, such as Ki-67, E-Cadherin, Pan-Keratin, and immune cells like CD3, CD4, CD8, CD45RO, FOXP3, CD68, and Granzyme B. This technique offers a powerful new method for detailed phenotyping of hair follicles and analyzing immune cell interactions, with potential applications in other hair pathologies like scarring alopecia.