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Comment
. 2015 Dec;135(12):2921-2923.
doi: 10.1038/jid.2015.372.

Melanocyte Regeneration in Vitiligo Requires WNT beneath their Wings

John E Harris  1
Affiliations
Comment

Melanocyte Regeneration in Vitiligo Requires WNT beneath their Wings

John E Harris. J Invest Dermatol. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Melanocytes in patients with vitiligo possess intrinsic abnormalities that contribute to its pathogenesis. Regazzetti et al. report that CXCL10 expression reflects subtle inflammation in normal-appearing skin but not in stable depigmented lesions, supporting the hypothesis that melanocytes themselves initiate autoimmune inflammation prior to clinically evident disease. In addition, they find that oxidative stress in melanocytes impairs WNT signaling and that targeting this pathway induces melanoblast differentiation. Thus, activating the WNT pathway may serve as an adjunctive strategy to support repigmentation in patients with vitiligo.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest:

The author states no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Perifollicular repigmentation in a vitiligo patient during nbUVB phototherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

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