Some biological and immunological studies in vitiligo

ABSTRACT

The present study comprised 48 vitiligo patients; 31 of them were not treated and the remaining 17 patients were on PUVA treatment for 6 months. They were subjected to thorough history taking and clinical examination. Vitiligo was associated with other autoimmune diseases in six patients in the form of alopecia areata [three patients], diabetes mellitus [two patients] and thyroid disease [one patient]. The melanocyte cultures were used as an antigen in the immunofluorescence [IF] and ELISA test using sera from the vitiligo patients and 20 control subjects. IF was positive in 54.2% in vitiligo sera in comparison with 5% positivity in the control sera. ELISA was positive in 77.1% in the vitiligo sera and in 20% of the control sera. Patients who were treated with PUVA had lower positive results to both IF and ELISA with a significant decrease in the optical density [OD] than the untreated patients. Thus, the IF is more specific for the detection of antibody in vitiligo serum against melanocytes whereas ELISA is more sensitive and more accurate