C-Reactive Protein as a Novel Biomarker for Vitamin D Deficiency in Alopecia Areata

The study involved 82 patients with alopecia areata (AA) and 81 healthy controls, investigating the association between vitamin D and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, and the influence of Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism CDX2 rs11568820. Results showed AA patients had higher CRP levels and lower vitamin D and VDR gene expression levels than healthy controls. CRP was found to be a highly accurate biomarker for diagnosing AA, with a sensitivity of 88.5% and a specificity of 87.6%. The CDX2 rs11568820 variant was also significantly associated with AA, with different genotypes showing varying levels of vitamin D and CRP. The study concluded that vitamin D deficiency could potentially disrupt the immune system, contributing to AA, and suggested testing CRP to evaluate disease activity and severity in AA.