There Was a Reason for High Alopecia Areata Among Koreans... Domestic Researchers Complete World's First 'Asian Immune Diversity Map'

Park Woong-yang's Team at Samsung Genome Institute Achieves Breakthrough
Analyzed 1.26 Million Immune Cells from Seven Groups
"Revealed Genetic Characteristics of Asian Populations"

Domestic researchers have completed the world's first map revealing the immune diversity of Asians. This is the result of analyzing the immune cells of Asians from Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, India, and other countries at the single-cell level. On the 24th, Samsung Seoul Hospital announced that the ‘Asian Immune Diversity Atlas (AIDA)’ research team led by Director Park Woong-yang of the Samsung Genome Institute published the characteristics of Asian immune cells in the international journal Cell.

Koreans had the lowest proportion of 'regulatory T cells,' a type of immune cell. When these cells are deficient, immune responses become excessively activated, leading to autoimmune diseases. A typical example is alopecia areata. Getty Images

The research team analyzed more than 1.26 million immune cells in the blood of 619 healthy individuals from seven groups, including Koreans, Japanese, Indians, Thais, Chinese living in Singapore, Malaysians, and Indians, using cutting-edge genomic analysis technology (scRNA-seq) at the single-cell level.

According to the study, Koreans had the lowest proportion of a type of immune cell called 'regulatory T cells.' Regulatory T cells control immune responses that protect the body when bacteria or other external agents invade. A deficiency in these cells can cause an excessive immune response, leading to autoimmune diseases. A representative example is alopecia areata. Alopecia areata occurs when T cells fail to control the attack on hair follicle cells, mistakenly identifying them as enemies.

Park Woong-yang, Director of the Genome Research Institute at Samsung Medical Center. Provided by Samsung Medical Center

The overall proportion of immune cells was also relatively low. This suggests that even when using immune checkpoint inhibitors, the treatment response may fall short of expectations. On the other hand, other major cells such as B cells and NK cells showed similar trends without significant differences.

Japanese and Chinese living in Singapore exhibited a balanced immune cell composition close to the overall average, while Malaysians living in Singapore showed a high presence of B cells, a type of lymphocyte. The Indian group had relatively low proportions of NK cells, a type of white blood cell, and Thais had relatively low proportions of myeloid cells.

The research team explained that this study systematically revealed why patients with the same disease respond differently to the same treatment. Since genetic characteristics of cells differ by race, age, gender, and disease progression, personalized treatment strategies for each patient are increasingly important. Furthermore, by building a single-cell database and uncovering how genetic factors affect diseases, they expect to ultimately open the way to overcoming illnesses.

Director Park Woong-yang, who led the research team, stated, "By revealing key information about the genetic characteristics of Asian races, including Koreans, we have gained an opportunity to have an Asian perspective rather than that of the US or Europe." He added, "In particular, a foundation has been established for Korea to lead single-cell analysis technology, which will be the basis of future medicine."