Increased interleukin-6 and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor levels in the sera of patients with non-segmental vitiligo.
BACKGROUND
Although the cause of vitiligo is unknown, an autoimmune theory has been proposed, and there is now convincing evidence that cytokines have an important role in pathogenesis of autoimmunity.


OBJECTIVE
To study the possible role of interleukin-1, beta (IL-1 beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.


METHODS
The authors measured the serum levels of the above-mentioned cytokines from 50 patients with the vitiligo compared with 20 healthy volunteers, employing the method of radioimmunoassay.


RESULTS
The results showed that the serum levels of both IL-6 and GM-CSF of the patients with both focal type and generalized type of vitiligo, and the serum level of IL-1 beta of the generalized type,were significantly, higher than those of normal controls in the patients with segmental vitiligo, the serum levels of all the cytokines tested were not significantly different from those of the normal controls. The GM-CSF levels of both focal type and generalized type, and the IL-6 level of the generalized type in progressive stage were significantly higher than those in stable state.


CONCLUSIONS
It is speculated that IL-6 and GM-CSF may be involved in the autoimmune mechanism of non-segmental vitiligo. However, more evidence is required before a definite conclusion can be drawn.
Tu
Cai Xia
CX
Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong shan Lu, Dalian 116011, People's Republic of China.
Gu
Jin Song
JS
Lin
Xi Ran
XR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000097:blood*
D007375:Interleukin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor