Involvement of ILC1-like innate lymphocytes in human autoimmunity, lessons from alopecia areata

The study investigated the role of innate lymphoid cells-type 1 (ILC1) in the development of alopecia areata (AA) and found that these cells were significantly increased around hair follicles in AA patients. Experiments showed that ILC1-like cells (ILC1lc) could induce AA characteristics, such as hair follicle regression and immune privilege collapse, in both ex vivo and in vivo models. Blocking NKG2D or neutralizing IFNγ counteracted these effects. The findings suggested that ILC1lc, which lack classical NK markers, could independently trigger AA, challenging the belief that AA is solely driven by CD8+ T cells and autoantigens.