To investigate the significance of humoral immunological factors in juvenile myasthenia gravis (JMG) patients, 11 children with JMG (age of onset between 2 and 13 years) and 8 healthy controls were enrolled. Plasma IL-2, IL-10, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, complement factor C3, C4, and C1q levels were measured by ELISA. IL-2, IL-10, TNF-alpha, C3, and C4 levels were significantly elevated in the patient group. Moreover, plasma IL-10 levels were associated with the presence of anti-AChR antibody and response to treatment suggesting a critical role for IL-10 in JMG pathogenesis.

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Vitiligo is a depigmentation disease which affects skin and hair follicles with a prevalence of 0.5%–1% worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate treatmental potential of dermis‐derived cells in monobenzone (MBEH)‐induced mouse vitiligo model with light and electron microscopy. MBEH (40%) cream was topically applied to C57BL/6 mice until depigmentation occured in vitiligo and experimental groups. In experimental groups, dermis‐derived cells obtained from back skin biopsy samples before induction of vitiligo, were injected intradermally to vitiligo mice. On Days 3 and 15 after cell transplantation to experimental groups, skin biopsies were compared with biopsies of control and vitiligo groups. Dermis‐derived cells obtained from back skin biopsy samples of experimental groups showed nestin and versican immunoreactivity. Melanin in hair follicles of control group was detected by histochemical stainings (Haematoxylin and eosin and Fontana–Masson) whereas sparse melanin granules were observed in hair follicles of vitiligo group. In experimental groups, there was an increase in the number of hair follicles with melanin compared with vitiligo group. We observed MART‐1 immunoreactive cells mostly around the hair follicles in control group and within dermis in vitiligo group. Electron microscopic investigation showed presence of melanosomes in hair follicles of control group and lacking in vitiligo group. In experimental groups, both type of hair follicles were observed with electron microscope. Our data suggest that autologously transplanted dermis‐derived cells may be effective in vitiligo treatment by contrubuting to melanin production.

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