Soluble interleukin-2 receptor in patients with vitiligo: relation to types, activity and duration of the disease

ABSTRACT

In order to study the role of soluble interleukin-2 receptor [sIL-2R] in pathogenesis of vitiligo, its serum level was measured in serum of 39 patients with vitiligo and 20 normal controls using the method of sandwich ELISA. The patients were divided according to type of disease into three groups. There was a highly significant increase in sIL-2R level in patients with vitiligo compared with that of the controls. There was no significant difference among sIL- 2R levels according to sex either in patients with vitiligo or controls. It was noticed that the level of sIL-2R was significantly increased in generalized and focal types of vitiligo than segmental type, which indicated that activation of T-lymphocytes would be an important component in pathogenesis of the two types of vitiligo