Using Enbrel, Humira, and other immunosuppressants

Good morning everyone,

I'm not one for usually contributing to this particular category of discussions, as I don't take any kind of treatments for my alopecia anymore, but as I've been watching TV I've had a question that I just had to ask -- and I really do wish we had some doctors on AW so we could get the benefit of their expertise for some of these questions!!

A lot of the immunosuppressant drugs out there, such as Humira and Enbrel, are proven remedies for treating rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, which are also autoimmune disorders. I'm just curious as to whether or not anyone has researched these drugs' effectiveness in treating alopecia, and if so, what was the success and failure rate? It never ceases to amaze me that nobody thinks to treat an autoimmune disorder with immunosuppressants; rather, the traditional protocol of steroids and inflammatories (which almost always yields little to no results) seems to be the status quo. I would subject myself to treatments again if I knew for certain that there was some research and success with something like these medications out there that REALLY work.

Any insight on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Phyllis Tankel on February 5, 2011 at 8:38pm
There is research now looking at drugs that are used for rheumatoid arthritis, celiac's disease, diabetes, etc. to see if they will work in alopecia to grow hair. These diseases seem to have a lot in common. The research is being done at Columbia University and some of the drugs they are using are Orencia as well as methotrexate, etc. It looks promising but these trials have a long way to go. I agree it does seem to make some sense.
Permalink Reply by kastababy on February 26, 2015 at 5:26pm

I'm aware of the research going on currently; apparently my forum post was very prescient (note that I asked this question in 2009, a full year *BEFORE* Dr. Christiano disclosed her reserarch findings - and I knew that the treatments fit the AA mouse model 10 years *BEFORE* anyone bothered to start investigating it (having access to the medical library at Vanderbilt University and their research labs, I was able to read unedited journal submissions with all the raw data included - lucky me!)

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