title: Effectiveness and safety of topical tacrolimus monotherapy for repigmentation in vitiligo: a comprehensive literature review.
abstract: Thus far, several small studies and case reports on the use of topical immunomodulators in vitiligo have been published. We undertook a comprehensive literature review, searching for studies evaluating clinical response to tacrolimus topical therapy for vitiligo. A search was performed on PubMed/Medline using the term "vitiligo", combined with "topical" and "ointment". Our inclusion criteria were: use of tacrolimus ointment as monotherapy to treat vitiligo. We found 29 studies from 2002 to 2014. Overall, 709 patients were treated in 29 studies. Pooling the lesions, 50% repigmentation of vitiligo patches was never achieved before 2 months of treatment, with a peak after 6 months of therapy. The best results were obtained on lesions of the cephalic region, especially the face, with tacrolimus 0.1% ointment two times daily. The percentage of non-responsive patients ranged from 0% to 14%. Treatment was generally well-tolerated; only localized adverse effects were reported. Our objective was to verify the effectiveness and safety of tacrolimus ointment monotherapy. It has good efficacy and tolerability. At present, only small trials and case series are available in the literature. Further, standardized investigations on a larger number of patients are needed.
authors.affiliation: Montecatini Terme, Pistoia, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sisti
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sisti
authors.affiliation: Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Oranges
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D009824:Ointments; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D009824:Ointments; D016559:Tacrolimus