Assessment of tissue FoxP3⁺, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T‐cells in active and stable nonsegmental vitiligo

Abstract

The reduction in the number of FoxP3+ cells in the marginal skin suggests that this is the site where regulatory activity is needed to suppress the activity of helper and cytotoxic T-cells that are actively contributing to depigmentation.

Alteration in regulatory T cells and programmed cell death 1-expressing regulatory T cells in active generalized vitiligo and their clinical correlation

“…A decrease in CD4 + /CD8 + ratio and Tregs, and reduced FoxP3 expression has been reported in patients with GV compared with controls and patients with stable vitiligo . Significant reduction in FoxP3 + Tregs and a significant increase in CD4 + and CD8 + T cells was detected in marginal skin in cases of both stable and active vitiligo, suggesting a defect in Tregs in the perilesional skin of both stable and active vitiligo …”

The role of IL-17 in vitiligo: A review

“…CD8+ T cells kill self-cells upon antigen recognition and form a critical component of adaptive immunity. These cells have been implicated in the direct killing of melanocytes in vitiligo models[60,73], and thus their recruitment by IL-17 may play an important role in disease pathogenesis[44,74–76]. …”

Regulatory T cells in vitiligo: Implications for pathogenesis and therapeutics

“…More recently, repigmentation in a mouse model of spontaneous epidermal depigmentation was found to be accompanied by an increased Treg cell infiltration, suggesting their importance in preventing an ongoing immune response against melanocytes [17]. To date, several studies have indicated perturbations in Treg cell numbers and/or function in vitiligo patients [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Such alterations might lead to the higher levels and activation of cytotoxic T cells (Fig.…”

“…Several studies have been carried out to look for alterations in Treg cell numbers in vitiligo (Table 1) [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]26,27]. Assessment of circulating Tregs by flow cytometric analysis has revealed a decrease in their numbers in vitiligo patients compared to controls [10,11,13].…”

“…Moreover, a striking reduction in the number of Tregs in the marginal and lesional skin of vitiligo patients has been observed [18,19].…”