title: Can systemically generated reactive oxygen species help to monitor disease activity in generalized vitiligo? A pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Generalized vitiligo is a disease with unpredictable bursts of activity, goal of treatment during the active phase being to stabilize the lesions. This emphasizes the need for a prospective marker for monitoring disease activity to help decide the duration of therapy.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In the present study, we examined whether reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated in erythrocytes can be translated into a marker of activity in vitiligo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Level of intracellular ROS was measured flow cytometrically in erythrocytes from venous blood of 21 patients with generalized vitiligo and 21 healthy volunteers using the probe dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of ROS differed significantly between patients and healthy controls, as well as between active versus stable disease groups. In the active disease group, ROS levels were significantly lower in those being treated with systemic steroids than those that were not. ROS levels poorly correlated with disease duration or body surface area involved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A long-term study based on these findings can be conducted to further validate the potential role of ROS in monitoring disease activity vitiligo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Richeek
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Soumita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Shibabrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Gobinda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Arghyaprasun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Mitali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Suparna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
keywords: Disease activity; generalized vitiligo; oxidative stress; therapeutic monitoring