Scientists May Have Found New Way To Treat Vitiligo Disease

The disease is a skin condition that results in part of one's skin losing its pigment. The condition affects around 1% of people and there is no known cure for it to date.

Researchers from the University of Carolina (UCI) have discovered unique cell-to-cell communication networks that may prevent repigmentation in patients with vitiligo disease, according to a new study published JCI Insight.

"In this study, we couple advanced imaging with transcriptomics and bioinformatics to discover the cell-to-cell communication networks between keratinocytes, immune cells and melanocytes that drive inflammation and prevent repigmentation caused by vitiligo," said Anand Ganesan, professor of dermatology and vice chair for dermatology research at UCI School of Medicine.

The discovery may help scientists to understand why white patches continue to persist in stable vertiligo cases - something that could potentially help discover a new treatment for the skin condition.

Vertiligo is characterised by the progressive destruction of melanocytes - cells responsible for forming melanin in the skin. The disease has been proven to distress patients and sometimes even lead to social stigmatisation. Lack of understanding as to why the white patches persist has prevented scientists from developing a cure, but things may soon change.

"By combining non-invasive multiphoton microscopy (MPM) imaging and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we identified distinct subpopulations of keratinocytes in lesional skin of stable vitiligo patients along with the changes in cellular compositions in stable vitiligo skin that drive disease persistence. In patients that responded to punch grafting treatment, these changes were reversed, highlighting their role in disease persistence," explained Jessica Shiu, the study’s first author and assistant professor of dermatology in the University of California.

The findings may also be useful to develop tools that would allow the use of keratinocyte metabolism in vitiligo treatment.