I read with interest and appreciated the paper of Kiniwa et al. (1), which was published in a recent issue of Cancer Research. They identified a novel melanoma/melanocyte antigen (KU-MEL-1), isolated from a patient with vitiligo and T-cell-infiltrated metastatic melanoma, that induced IgG responses in patients with various cancers and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease but did not in 12 vitiligo pati...

tyrosinase has been recognized as a major autoantign in human vitiligo. here we have shown that experimental autoimmune vitiligo can be induced by intradermal injection of mushroom tyrosinase emulsified in complete freund’s adjuvant in c57bl/6 mice. the onse of vitiligo was characterized by hair hypopigmentation and total melanocyte depletion in the basal layer of the epidermis. our results con...

a random 12 mers phage library was used to screen a pool of immunoglo¬bulin fractions obtained from vitiligo patients. subsequent to panning experiments, a panel of affinity selected phage from vitiligo patients were obtained. this panel was tested using an elis a for their reactivity with pooled sera from patients and normal controls. among the 16 randomly selected clones, two of clones showed...

Background: Vitiligo is an acquired idiopathic pigmentary skin disorder characterized by sharply demarcated milky white macules with variable size and shape. It has an estimated worldwide incidence of 0.5-4% and occurs in half of the patients before the age of 20 years. Since exact pathogenic mechanism is unknown, several proposed hypotheses are alternation of cellular and humoral immunity, mel...

BACKGROUND Generalized vitiligo is an autoimmune disease of skin pigmentation that is associated with increased prevalence of other autoimmune diseases, particularly autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD; principally Hashimoto's disease and Graves' disease), both in vitiligo patients and their close relatives, suggesting a heritable predisposition involving, in part, shared susceptibility genes. S...

Vitiligo is a dermatosis of difficult treatment and significant psychosocial impact. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response to tacrolimus 0,1% ointment for vitiligo treatment. Ten patients took part in the present study: six patients with lesions on the cephalic and cervical regions had more than 75% of repigmentation. As for extremities and trunk results varied from good to e...

The acquired depigmenting disorder of vitiligo affects an estimated 1% of the world population and constitutes one of the commonest dermatoses. Although essentially asymptomatic, the psychosocial impact of vitiligo can be severe. The cause of vitiligo remains enigmatic, hampering efforts at successful therapy. The underlying pathogenesis of the pigment loss has, however, been clarified to some ...

Background: Targeted UVB phototherapy currently ranks among the most effective treatment options in localized vitiligo. Purpose: The study aims to assess the efficacy of Targeted NBUVB monotherapy in childhood vitiligo involving less than 10% body surface area. Methods: Thirty-five children with vitiligo, less than 15-years of age were treated with Targeted NBUVB device twice weekly till comple...

BACKGROUND Phototherapy is one of the most effective treatment options in vitiligo. Targeted phototherapy devices are becoming more popular as they offer a lot of advantages over the conventional whole-body phototherapy units. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of a targeted narrowband ultraviolet B (NBUVB) device in vitiligo. MATERIALS AND...

Vitiligo, a depigmentary disorder, caused by the loss of melanocytes, affects approximately 1% of the world population, irrespective of skin type, with a serious psychological impact on the patient quality of life. So far, the origin of vitiligo has not been traced and the pathogenesis is complex, involving the interplay of a multitude of variables. Although there is no treatment that ensures t...