Topical Cetirizine 1% vs Minoxidil 5% Gel in Treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2021-11-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA), also known as androgenic alopecia or male pattern baldness, is
the most common type of progressive hair loss. It is a polygenetic condition with variable
degree of severity, age of onset, and location of hair loss.
Male AGA (MAGA) is clearly an androgen-dependent condition and, although the mode of
inheritance is uncertain, a genetic predisposition is observed.
Regarding treatment of AGA; in most cases it's challenging and unsatisfactory. Finasteride
and Minoxidil 2-5 % solution are the only US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved
treatment options for MAGA.
On the basis of hypertrichosis observed in patients treated with analogues of prostaglandin
PGF2a (i.e. latanoprost used for glaucoma), it was supposed that prostaglandins would have an
important role in the hair growth (Nieves et al., 2014).
Multiple studies had claimed that prostaglandins are deregulated in both alopecia areata (AA)
and AGA.
Cetirizine, is a safe and selective second-generation histamine H1 receptor antagonist widely
used. It has anti-inflammatory properties. Studies have shown cetirizine causes a significant
reduction in both the inflammatory cell infiltrate and PGD2 production.
The oral administration of cetirizine is commonly leads to different systemic side effects.
Thus the topical formulation is expected to be an effective tool for avoiding the oral side
effects as well as better targeting, but unfortunately, no topical formulation of cetirizine
is available in the market till date.