Subset Analysis of NKG2D+ Cells in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
TLDR The study suggests that a specific type of immune cell, memory-like NK cells, may increase during active hair loss in Alopecia areata.
This study investigates the role of NKG2D+ cells in alopecia areata (AA) by analyzing peripheral blood mononuclear cells using flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing. The research found that the major NKG2D-expressing cells in AA patients were CD8+ and CD56+ cells, with a minor subset of CD4+ T cells. Although NKG2D+ cells were more abundant in AA patients compared to healthy controls, the differences were not statistically significant. Additionally, NKG2D expression did not significantly correlate with disease activity or severity. However, single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that memory-like NK cells increased in the active status of AA, suggesting that this subset may better correlate with disease activity than CD8+ cells.
