Serum IL-21 Level and Its Relation to Activity and Severity of Alopecia Areata
January 2022
in “
The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine
”
TLDR Higher IL-21 levels may help predict alopecia areata activity.
This study investigated the relationship between serum IL-21 levels and the activity and severity of alopecia areata (AA) in 40 patients compared to 40 healthy controls. It found that IL-21 levels were significantly higher in AA patients and positively correlated with disease activity, suggesting IL-21 as a potential predictor of AA activity. However, IL-21 levels did not vary significantly with different SALT scores. The study concluded that serum IL-21 could serve as a promising diagnostic and prognostic marker for AA, with an AUC-ROC of 0.962 and an accuracy of 86.3%, using a cut-off point of 22.22 pg/ml.