Premium
Systemic analyses of immunophenotypes of peripheral T cells in non‐segmental vitiligo: implication of defective natural killer T cells
Author(s) -
Zhou Li,
Li Kai,
Shi YuLing,
Hamzavi Iltefat,
Gao TianWen,
Henderson Marsha,
Huggins Richard H.,
Agbai Oma,
Mahmoud Bassel,
Mi Xiaofan,
Lim Henry W.,
Mi QingSheng
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
pigment cell and melanoma research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1755-148X
pISSN - 1755-1471
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-148x.2012.01019.x
Subject(s) - foxp3 , il 2 receptor , immunology , cd8 , vitiligo , pathogenesis , immune system , natural killer t cell , cytotoxic t cell , medicine , biology , t cell , in vitro , genetics
Summary Although it is widely believed that non‐segmental vitiligo (NSV) results from the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes, a clear understanding of defects in immune tolerance, which mediate this uncontrolled self‐reactivity, is still lacking. In the present study, we systemically evaluated circulating regulatory T (Treg) cells, including CD4 + CD25 + FoxP3 + Treg cells and invariant natural killer T ( i NKT) cells, as well as naïve and memory CD4 + and CD8 + T cells and their cytokine production, in a cohort of 43 progressive NSV patients with race‐, gender‐, and age‐matched healthy controls. We found that the general immunophenotypes of CD4 + and CD8 + T cells and the percentage of CD4 + CD25 + FoxP3 + Tregs were comparable between NSV and healthy controls. However, percentages of peripheral i NKT cells were significantly decreased in NSV patients compared to that in healthy controls. Our data confirm the previous notion that the percentage of peripheral CD4 + CD25 + FoxP3 + Tregs remains unaltered in NSV and suggests the involvement of defective i NKT cells in the pathogenesis of NSV.