BACKGROUND
Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune illness with an underlying immuno-inflammatory etiology. It is characterized by nonscarring hair loss of the scalp, face, and/or body. Ritlecitinib is an orally administered drug that inhibits Janus Kinase 3 (JAK3) and the TEC kinase family, which are tyrosine kinases expressed in hepatocellular cancer and has been under investigation for the treatment of alopecia areata.
OBJECTIVE
Our meta-analysis is the first of its kind to synthesize the available literature on the topic, thereby studying the efficacy of Ritlecitinib in AA.
METHODS
A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus to find relevant literature. RevMan 5.4 was used to perform statistical analysis. A random effects model was used to report the pooled Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score. Risk Ratios along with their 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs), were reported for the outcomes. This review is registered with PROSPERO under the identifier: CRD42024539926.
RESULTS
A total of 4 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis, including 411 patients. The mean age of patients in studies ranged from 14 to 43 years. The total number of patients who received Ritlecitinib was 205. All the included studies had a low risk of bias. Two trials, which reported responses of the reduction in SALT scores from baseline least square mean difference from placebo, were included in our review. The summary Mean Difference (MD) for the ritlecitinib versus placebo group was 30.58 (P < 0.00001). Other outcomes that were reported by our included studies were people who had <10 SALT scores and people who had <20 SALT scores. The pooled RR of patients who experienced adverse events was 1.27 (95% CI: 0.81 - 1.99, P = 0.30).
CONCLUSIONS
To sum up, ritlecitinib is a potentially effective treatment for Alopecia Areata that focuses on the complex pathophysiology of this somewhat debilitating illness. However, there still needs to be more research regarding ritlecitinib's full potential, which needs to be investigated with the aid of clinical and translational studies.