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.
Conclusion: 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.