The American journal of pathology
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Evidence for the involvement of cellular immunity in the etiopathogenesis of the hypopigmentary disorder vitiligo is provided by rare cases of inflammatory vitiligo. Nonlesional, perilesional, and lesional skin biopsies from three inflammatory vitiligo patients were immunohistochemically analyzed. The composition of inflammatory infiltrates present in perilesional skin was analyzed by antibodies to T cells (CD2, CD3, CD4, and CD8), Langerhans cells (CD1a), and macrophages (CD36 and CD68). ⋯ Keratinocytes as well as melanocytes consistently express major histocompatibility complex class II antigens along stretches of basal and suprabasal layers in perilesional epidermis. Moreover, inflammation is accompanied by increased tenascin content. Although these observations do not permit differentiation between the immune infiltrates being a result as opposed to the cause of the disease process, results presented in this study are very suggestive of involvement of local immune reactivity in melanocyte destruction.