A man with almost no hair on his body has grown a full head of hair after a new treatment by doctors at Yale University in the US.
The 25-year-old patient, who had both alopecia universalis and plaque psoriasis, has also grown eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as facial, armpit, and other hair. He reported no undesirable side-effects.
'The results are exactly what we hoped for,' said Brett King, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine and senior author of a paper, entitled: 'Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Oral Tofacitinib Reverses Alopecia Universalis in a Patient with Plaque Psoriasis', published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
'This is a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition. While it’s one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this man based on our current understanding of the disease and the drug. We believe the same results will be duplicated in other patients, and we plan to try.'
The results are exactly what we hoped for
King believed it might be possible to address both diseases simultaneously using an FDA-approved drug for rheumatoid arthritis called tofacitinib citrate. The drug had been used successfully for treating psoriasis in humans. It had also reversed alopecia areata, a less extreme form of alopecia, in mice.
'There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis,' said King. 'The best available science suggested this might work, and it has.'
After two months on tofacitinib at 10mg daily, the patient’s psoriasis showed some improvement, and he had grown scalp and facial hair – the first hair he had grown in these areas for seven years. After three more months of therapy at 15mg daily, the patient had completely regrown scalp hair and also had clearly visible eyebrows, eyelashes, and facial hair, as well as armpit and other hair, the doctors said.'By eight months there was full re-growth of hair,' said co-author Brittany Craiglow. 'The patient has reported feeling no side effects, and we’ve seen no lab test abnormalities, either.'
Tofacitinib appears to spur hair regrowth in a patient with alopecia universalis by turning off the immune system attack on hair follicles that is prompted by the disease, King added.
The drug helps in some, but not all, cases of psoriasis, and was mildly effective in this patient’s case, the authors said.
King has submitted a proposal for a clinical trial involving a cream form of tofacitinib as a treatment for alopecia areata.
