REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders: Autoinflammatory Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1641918
This article is part of the Research TopicHost-Microbiota Interactions in Autoimmunity and Inflammatory Diseases: Exploring Therapeutic OpportunitiesView all articles
Overlapping Features of Atopic Dermatitis and Alopecia Areata: From Pathogenesis to Treatment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 2The 925th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force, Guiyang, China
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Atopic dermatitis (AD) and alopecia areata (AA) have traditionally been regarded as inflammatory dermatoses with independent pathogenic mechanisms, with the former mostly categorized as a type 2 inflammatory disease and the latter as a type 1 inflammatory disease. However, immunologic studies have shown that the immunologic properties of AD and AA do not strictly follow the traditional classification. Both diseases are associated with systemic Th1, Th2, Th17, and Th22 cytokine imbalances, shared genetic susceptibility loci, overlapping immune pathways, and microbiome-mediated modulation of skin pathology. This review systematically investigates the intricate interactions between AD and AA, focusing on shared pathophysiologic mechanisms such as immune network crosstalk, metabolic dysregulation, and microbial influences. Furthermore, it critically evaluates current therapeutic strategies for overlapping disease manifestations, with a detailed analysis of emerging targeted therapies and their implications for clinical practice. By integrating existing evidence and identifying research gaps, this article aims to provide new perspectives on the understanding of the mechanisms of AD-AA interactions and to inform clinical decision-making and future research directions.
Keywords: Alopecia Areata, atopic dermatitis, overlap, Cytokines, Immune dysregulation
Received: 05 Jun 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng, Chen and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Qianqian Chen, The 925th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force, Guiyang, China
Min Xiao, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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