Investigation of CD4 and CD8 T-cells levels in vitiligo patients

Abstract

There are several hypotheses explained the etiopathogenesis of vitiligo in patients. Various triggers increase the occurrence of vitiligo in people who are genetically predisposed to the disease. Autoimmunity is most plausible hypothesis. Numerous studies have revealed immune-mediated destruction of melanocytes in vitiligo. T-cells are essential in the progression of autoimmune diseases, including vitiligo, but really the initial steps that induce their activation are unknown. As a necessary consequence of proposed cellular immunity role in vitiligo, estimating CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T-cells levels were conducted in a cohort of Iraqi vitiligo patients to support this hypothesis. Aim of the study Evaluation of peripheral blood CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+ T-lymphocytes levels and CD4/CD8 ratio in diagnosed vitiligo patients in comparison with matched healthy subjects using flowcytometry analysis. Methods Fresh peripheral blood samples from 45 vitiligo patients and 45 controls subjects were taken. Flow Cytometric analysis was used for assessment of CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T-lymphocytes levels in all blood samples. Then CD4+/ CD8+ ratio was calculated, and comparison was done between vitiligo patients and controls subjects and among vitiligo patients' categories. Results The findings demonstrated that total peripheral blood lymphocytes count mean in vitiligo patients were significantly (p-value=0.01) higher than controls. Mean absolute count of CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T- lymphocytes populations were close in value in patients and controls without significant differences even among patients' categories. CD4/CD8 ratio mean was elevated more than one and without significant differences (p-value=0.74) between patients and controls. Conclusion The significant increase in total lymphocyte count of patients compared with controls reinforces the findings of the other studies indicating the contribution of cellular immunity to disease development. It is suggested additional investigations regarding other peripheral lymphocyte subtypes such as B-lymphocytes and Natural killer cells, to give more appropriate correlative biomarkers for vitiligo progression assessment, and it is preferable to conduct researches on the respective T-cells in the skin as well as circulation, as this will be critical to better understanding the disease's pathogenesis.