Master’s Thesis at the University of Babylon on Alopecia Areata
As part of the ongoing activities of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and in an effort to align research with the most common diseases in Iraq, the College of Medicine, University of Babylon, held a master’s thesis defense for student Fatima Hafez Al-Mousawi, titled “Evaluation of Heat Shock Protein 70, Adiponectin, Interleukin-6, and Interleukin-15 as Predictive Biomarkers in Active Alopecia Areata”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Maha Fadel Sameesem and Prof. Wissam Ali Ameen.
The session was attended by Assist. Prof. Dr. Ashraf Mohammed Ali Hussein (Scientific Assistant), Prof. Dr. Kazem Jawad Al-Hamadani (Administrative Assistant), Prof. Dr. Hussein Alawi Matlib Al-Dahmoshi (Chairman of the Health Committee in the Babylon Provincial Council), as well as a group of researchers, academics, and postgraduate students.
During her defense, the researcher explained that alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the hair follicles, potentially leading to partial or complete loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or even body hair (alopecia universalis). Genetic, immune, and environmental factors are thought to play a role in its development.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of several biomarkers—including Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70), adiponectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-15 (IL-15), as well as zinc and ferritin—in patients with alopecia areata compared with healthy individuals.
The results showed that patients had significantly elevated levels of HSP70, IL-6, and IL-15 compared to healthy controls, whereas their adiponectin, zinc, and ferritin levels were lower. Body mass index (BMI) was also notably higher among patients. Furthermore, HSP70 and IL-15 levels were highest in severe cases, while adiponectin levels decreased with increasing disease severity. IL-6 levels, however, did not show significant differences according to disease severity.