Vitiligo is common in the hereditary disorder autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type I (APS I). Patients with APS I are known to have high titer autoantibodies directed against various tissue-specific antigens. Using sera from APS I patients for immunoscreening of a cDNA library from human scalp, we identified the transcription factors SOX9 and SOX10 as novel autoantigens related to this syndro...

T-cell cytolytic activity targeting epidermal melanocytes is shown to cause progressive depigmentation and autoimmune vitiligo. By using the recently developed transgenic mice h3TA2 that carry T cells with a HLA-A2-restricted human tyrosinase peptide (h-Tyr)-reactive TCR and develop spontaneous vitiligo from an early age, we addressed the mechanism regulating autoimmune vitiligo. Depigmentation...

We have hypothesised that melanocytes disappear in vitiligo because they are weakly attached to the epidermal basal membrane (melanocytorrhagy). In the epidermis, attachment of melanocytes to collagen IV is mediated through DDR1, which is under the control of CCN3. DDR1 genetic variants have been associated with vitiligo in patients of different ethnic origin. In vitro studies have shown that i...

The mutant Smyth line (SL) chicken developed by Dr. J. Robert Smyth, Jr. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, is the only animal model for autoimmune vitiligo that recapitulates the entire spectrum of clinical and biological manifestations of the human disease. The onset and incidence of SL vitiligo is predictable, the lesion is easily accessible and the target tissue (feather) rege...

BACKGROUND Inflammatory and immune processes can be triggered in vitiligo due to a decreased number of melanocytes and their anti-inflammatory effects. Because of the systemic nature of vitiligo, metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance and lipid profile disturbances as well as skin involvement may be observed in vitiligo. AIMS To investigate the association between metabolic syndro...

Generalized vitiligo is thought to have an autoimmune etiology and has been correlated with the presence of CD8 T cells specific for melanocyte differentiation Ag. However, limited animal models for the disease have hampered its understanding. Thus, we generated TCR transgenic mice that recognize an epitope of the melanocyte protein, tyrosinase. These animals develop vitiligo with strikingly si...

Little is known about the functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) in skin pigmentation disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and potential role of miRNAs in vitiligo. Of 12 studied miRNAs with proven functions in cell proliferation, differentiation, immune responses and melanogenesis, miR-99b, miR-125b, miR-155 and miR-199a-3p were found to be increased and miR-145 was foun...

Objective. The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the association between vitiligo and human leukocyte antigen- (HLA-) A. Methods. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and reference lists were searched for relevant original articles. Results. Nineteen case-control studies comprising 3042 patients and 5614 controls were included, in which...

Background: Vitiligo is a depigmenting disorder characterized by the loss of melanocytes. Thyroid functional disorders and autoimmune thyroid diseases have been reported in association with vitiligo. This study was thus conducted to find out any association of vitiligo with thyroid dysfunction. Methodology: This study was conducted at the Dermatology Department of a teaching medical college. Th...