Epidermal melanocytes are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress owing to the pro-oxidant state generated during melanin synthesis, and to the intrinsic antioxidant defenses that are compromised in pathologic conditions. Melanoma is thought to be oxidative stress driven, and melanocyte death in vitiligo is thought to be instigated by a highly pro-oxidant state in the epidermis. We review t...

Most patients with active vitiligo (82% of 61) have antibodies to antigens of normal human melanocytes that can be detected by specific immunoprecipitation of radioiodinated, detergent-soluble, melanocyte macromolecules. Such antibodies were present in only 12% of patients with melanoma and in none of 35 patients with nonpigmentary skin diseases. The antibodies were directed to a common antigen...

Vitiligo is a dermatosis requiring complex treatment. In clinically stable cases, melanocyte autologous grafting has shown good results, using different methodologies for obtaining the donor area: dermatomes, punches, blisters. However, these techniques are complex and require specific instruments. This study presents a simple technique for melanocyte harvest that has been performed in our serv...

tyrosinase has been recognized as a major autoantign in human vitiligo. here we have shown that experimental autoimmune vitiligo can be induced by intradermal injection of mushroom tyrosinase emulsified in complete freund’s adjuvant in c57bl/6 mice. the onse of vitiligo was characterized by hair hypopigmentation and total melanocyte depletion in the basal layer of the epidermis. our results con...

Background: Vitiligo is a hypomelanotic autoimmune skin disorder arising from a breakdown in immunological self-tolerance, which leads to aberrant immune responses against melanocytes leading to selective destruction of melanocytes. High levels of Interleukin 1(IL1) have been reported in various autoimmune disorders including vitiligo. The aim of present study was to explore the effect of IL1-α...

The human melanocyte is continuously exposed to intrinsic and extrinsic sources of reactive biochemical species, but is finely tuned via the intrinsic anti-oxidant and radical properties of melanin to suppress the build-up of an altered redox phenotype. We propose that this control is lost during melanomagenesis and inappropriate redox-sensitive transcriptional factor activations occur which re...

Using the indirect immunohistochemical approach the occurrence of gamma-melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH)-like immunoreactivity in neutrophilic granulocytes is described.