Clinical And Immunological Features Of Adult Vitiligo

Objective:Vitiligo is a well-recognized pigmentary disorder and now it is known as an autoimmune disease.Autoimmune plays an important role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.Autoimmune thyroid disease is also a common autoimmune disease,and it is related to vitiligo.The objective of this article is to discuss the relationship of between autoimmunity,autoimmune thyroid disease and vitiligo in adult patients.Methods:A questionnaire was designed to investigate the clinical characteristic of patients older than 18 years with vitiligo.The serum levels of complement and T-lymphocyte subsets were detected in 256 cases of adult patients and the serum levels of free triiodothyronine,free thyroxine,thyroid stimulating hormone and thyroid autoantibodies were detected in 249 cases of adult patients.Results:A total of 1049 patients were investigated.462(44.04%) of them were males and 587(55.96%) of them were femals.The mean age of them were 33.10 years old and the mean age of onset of them were 28.05 years old.The count of serum levels of complement and T-lymphocyte subsets was decreases in patients in active phase compared with those in stable phase.The count of serum levels of complement 3 was decreases in segmental vitiligo compared with thoses in vitiligo vulgaris.The count of serum free thyroxine was increased in patients in active phase compared with those in stable phase.Conclusion:Cellular immunity plays an important part in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.The pathogenesis of segmental vitiligo may be related to humoral immunity.Thyroid dysfunction may result in the progress of vitiligo.