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Article: Hypothesis: superoxide scavengers or superoxide dismutase may potentiate the therapeutic efficacy of contact dermatitis against alopecia areata.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
- Article from:
- Journal of Drugs in Dermatology
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Induction of irritant or allergic contact dermatitis has been shown to be effective in the treatment of alopecia areata (1). Though various mechanisms have been proposed, none could explain the efficacy of both types of contact dermatitis in this condition. Very recently, however, it has been proposed that induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by both allergic and irritant contact dermatitis could provide a shared mechanism, as nitric oxide (NO) at high, inducible concentrations shuts off the Th1-type immune response which underlies alopecia areata (2).
Furthermore, the observation that alopecia areata is not seen more commonly in AIDS, which is ...