Soluble CD27 and MIF as possible serum biomarkers of vitiligo activity in Egyptian patients in Sharkia Governorate

Abstract

Contrary to other inflammatory skin disorders like psoriasis or atopic dermatitis, vitiligo does not present with distinct inflammatory symptoms that can be easily evaluated by clinical examination. Identification of a putative biomarker to inform early and accurate treatment responses could be of considerable value. This study aims to validate levels of serum soluble CD27 (sCD27) and macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) as biomarkers of vitiligo to improve the quality of disease management. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 32 vitiligo patients, stratified into two subgroups of 22 active and 10 stable vitiligo patients; the stable group containing 1 segmental and 9 non-segmental presentations, and 32 matched healthy individuals as the control group. Of the 32 patients in the study, 21 were female and 11 were male with a median age of 30 years. The measurements of the study parameters of sCD27 and MIF in the serum were carried out through blood sampling and followed up for three months at one-month intervals for stable vitiligo cases. Mean serum levels of sCD27 and MIF were significantly higher in vitiligo patients than in the control group. A positive correlation was observed in active vitiligo cases between both serum MIF and sCD27 levels and the spreading item of Vitiligo European Task Force (VETF) score as an indicator of disease activity. Serum sCD27 and MIF levels in vitiligo patients were observed to be higher than that of controls with greater correlation found for sCD27 with disease activity.

Gene Expression of CD70 and CD27 Is Increased in Alopecia Areata Lesions and Associated with Disease Severity and Activity

“…This expression correlated with the hypo or demethylation of the CD70 gene promoter area, which causes a failure to repress CD70 expression when it is triggered by T cell activation [ 15 , 16 ]. Regarding CD27, its soluble serum level was elevated in patients with active vitiligo and was suggested as a marker of disease progression [ 17 , 18 ]. Serum soluble CD27 was downregulated upon treatment of psoriasis [ 19 ].…”

Understanding the Role of Lymphocytes in Vitiligo

“…Another report that studied GITR family-related receptor on CD8 T cells confirmed that this can induce protective and high-avidity T cell responses as GITR stimulation-induced very weak CD8 T cell responses to melanocyte differentiation antigens expressed by the tumor and did not induce autoimmune vitiligo [52]. Many of these molecules were described as inhibitory elements for T cells, and so many investigators used their blocking factors during the management of tumors like melanoma to release the cytotoxic lymphocytes against the targeted tumor cells [9,37,50].…”

“…They are related to the innate immunity track and may confirm the need for this arm of action to activate the anergic clones. There is evidence that these markers have a capacity to indicate the probability of future disease progression [9,37]. These factors may ensure lymphocyte survival, T-cell proliferation, and memory cell formation and their expression supported helper Th1 development.…”

Vitiligo-Specific Soluble Biomarkers as Early Indicators of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Metastatic Melanoma Patients

“…Vitiligo biomarkers, characterizing active vitiligo status early on and in the absence of clinical signs of the pathology, have been previously identi ed [31]. They include an augmented presence in patient circulation of in ammatory molecules such as the chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)9/MIG [32][33][34], CXCL10/IP-10 [32,35,36], and CXCL11/I-TAC [36], S100B [37,38], IL-17A [39,40], soluble forms of CD25/IL-2 receptor alpha (IL-2 Rα) [41][42][43] and CD27/TNFRSF7 [43,44]. Moreover, some microRNAs (miRNAs), such as miR-16, miR-19b, and miR-25, were highly expressed in vitiligo patients, while miR-574 was downregulated, compared with healthy controls [45][46][47].…”