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Abstract
Background: The androgen receptor (AR) belongs to the steroid hormone group of nuclear receptors. AR is responsible for determining the sensitivity of cells to androgens. Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is a non-scarring progressive follicular miniaturization which usually follows a pattern distribution of hair loss. Idiopathic hirsutism (IH) is the presence of excessive terminal hair in androgen-dependent areas of a woman’s body in the presence of normal ovulatory function and normal circulating androgen levels. Normal testosterone levels in FPHL and IH suggest the involvement of androgen sensitivity in this condition. Androgen sensitivity is related to AR messenger RNA (mRNA) production. The aim of this study is to assess the expression of mRNA of the AR in female patients with abnormal hair distribution (FPHL and IH) to verify the role of AR sensitivity in both FPHL and hirsutism. Material and Methods: This study included 20 females with FPHL, 20 females with IH, and 10 healthy controls for AR gene expression analysis. All of them were subjected to complete history taking, clinical examination, grading of FPHL according to Ludwig scale, and scoring of hirsutism according to modified Ferriman-Gallwey (m- FG) scoring system. Blood samples were collected to determine the serum level of AR m-RNA by reverse transcriptase real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We used two primers for targeting the AR the first one for the CAG repeats in exone 1 the other one for the DNA binding domain (DBD). Results The AR expression level in the serum of patients with FPHL using primer for CAG repeats is higher but not statistically significant than AR expression level of the other groups (p=0.8). However the AR expression level in the serum of hirsute group using primer for DBD is higher but not significant than other groups (p=0.2). We found a weak negative correlation between the grade of FPHL and AR expression level (r= -0.3)