[The significance of lymphocytic differentiation antigens in the diagnosis and therapy of alopecia areata].

In an earlier study, a significant reduction of the CD8+, CD16+, CD19+, CD8+Leu8+ and HLA-DQ+ cells was found in the peripheral blood of patients with alopecia areata (AA). On the basis of these findings, typing was repeated after 6 months at the earliest in a total of 44 patients who had meanwhile received different therapies, to detect any shifts in these lymphocyte subgroups with cure or persistence of AA. Any external or internal treatment had been discontinued 4 weeks before typing, in order to preclude short-term influences of the therapy. An increase, i.e., normalization, in CD8+ cells together with a significant decrease in CD4+ cells was shown in the group with complete remission, in contrast to the patients in whom AA had not yielded to treatment. The remaining lymphocyte dysbalances persisted unchanged in both groups. This shows that healing of AA is associated with an increase in CD8+ and a decrease in CD4+ cells.