Photobiomodulation Effectiveness in Treating Androgenetic Alopecia.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a genetically determined condition, which leads to progressive hair loss (HL) of the vertex, affects hair follicles, and promotes partial or total HL. It may be related to important psychological and social distress. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) in patients with AGA. Methods: Twenty-five men 20-54 years of age participated in this study. The irradiations were punctual, in contact mode, with 1 cm between each point covering the entire affected area. A red low-level laser (λ = 660 nm) (Recover®, MMOptics, São Carlos, Brazil) was used with 100 mW, 30 sec, and 3 J per point, twice a week on alternate days for 10 weeks. Evaluations were made by photographic records from the same area before any intervention (T1), after 5 weeks (T2), after 10 weeks (T3). Two blinded evaluators using the ImageJ® software assessed the hair density. Results: The hair density evaluation showed a significant increase in hair count between T1 and T2 (p = 0.0004) and between T1 and T3 (p = 0.0285), however between T2 and T3 no statistical difference was found (p > 0.05). Conclusions: PBM provides a stimulus for hair density in 5 weeks. After this period, we observed that after five extra sessions, it does not increase hair density in the treated region. This study showed that the PBM is effective and promoted safe results with a reduced number of sessions for the AGA treatment.

Polymorphisms in Genes Affecting Interferon-γ Production and Th1 T Cell Differentiation Are Associated With Progression to Chagas Disease Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is endemic in Latin America. Thirty percent of infected individuals develop chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC), an inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy that is the most important clinical consequence of T. cruzi infection, while the others remain asymptomatic (ASY). IFN-γ and IFN-γ-producing Th1-type T cells are increased in peripheral blood and CCC myocardium as compared to ASY patients, while the Th1-antagonizing cytokine IL-10 is more expressed in ASY patients. Importantly IFN-γ-producing Th1-type T cells are the most frequent cytokine-producing T cell subset in CCC myocardium, while expression of Th1-antagonizing cytokines IL-10 and IL-4 is unaltered. The control of IFN-γ production by Th1-type T cells may be a key event for progression toward CCC. A genetic component to disease progression was suggested by the familial aggregation of cases and the association of gene polymorphisms with CCC development. We here investigate the role of gene polymorphisms (SNPs) in several genes involved in the control of IFN-γ production and Th1 T cell differentiation in CCC development. Methods: We studied a Brazilian population including 315 CCC cases and 118 ASY subjects. We assessed 35 Tag SNPs designed to represent all the genetic information contained in the IL12B, IL10, IFNG, and IL4 genes. Results: We found 2 IL12 SNPs (rs2546893, rs919766) and a trend of association for a IL10 SNP (rs3024496) to be significantly associated with the ASY group. these associations were confirmed by multivariate analysis and allele tests. The rs919766C, 12rs2546893G, and rs3024496C alleles were associated to an increase risk to CCC development. Conclusions: Our data show that novel polymorphisms affecting IL12B and IL10, but not IFNG or IL4 genes play a role in genetic susceptibility to CCC development. This might indicate that the increased Th1 differentiation and IFN-γ production associated with CCC is genetically controlled.