Assessment of the Oxidative Stress Status in Androgenetic Alopecia in Egyptian Men

Background Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of hair loss in men. It is commonly known as a male pattern baldness. It is characterized by a stepwise miniaturization of the hair follicle, resulting from alteration in the hair cycle dynamics, leading to vellus transformation of terminal hair follicle. In AGA, the duration of anagen phase gradually decreases and that of telogen phase increases, the maximum length of the new anagen hair becomes shorter than that of its predecessor, leading to miniaturization and eventually a bald appearance. Aim of the Work To assess the expression of NRF2 in the scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia. Patients and Methods This case control study included 28 male patients whose age ranged from 18 to 45 years old. They were diagnosed as having AGA according to Norwood-Hamilton scale. Further, 28 age and sex matched healthy male controls were recruited. All patients and controls were recruited from the dermatology outpatient clinic of Ain-Shams University Hospitals, during the period of September 2018 to April 2019. Results A group of Twenty-eight male patients with AGA were recruited to the study. The of patients ranged from 18 to 45 years (mean = 33.46 years ± 9.9 SD). Twenty-eight age matched male healthy volunteers without AGA were e recruited. The majority of AGA patients had positive family history of AGA in their first degree relatives. None of our patients had a medical history of systemic diseases like diabetes mellitus or hypertension. Conclusion The current study showed that alteration of Nrf2 levels may play an important role in the pathogenesis of AGA.