TENASCIN IS OVEREXPRESSED IN VITILIGO LESIONAL SKIN AND INHIBITS MELANOCYTE ADHESION

The aetiology of vitiligo remains obscure. in this study, the role of integrins in the observed inability of melanocytes to repopulate lesio nal skin was investigated, Antibodies directed to alpha(2), alpha(3), alpha(5), alpha(v), alpha(6), beta(1) and beta(3) integrin subunits we re used. Immunohistology revealed no marked differences in the overall levels of expression of integrins between control, non-lesional, peri lesional or lesional skin, Moreover, no differences were noted in the level of expression of integrins or the adhesive capacity between cult ured control cells derived from three separate donors and vitiligo-der ived melanocytes from two donors, Rather, it was clearly observed that towards the lesion, vitiligo skin contains increasing amounts of tena scin in the basal membrane and papillary dermis in five patients emplo ying T2H5 antihuman tenascin antibody, The anti-adhesive effect observ ed in vitro for this extracellular matrix molecule using normal melano cytes may contribute to loss of pigment cells in vitiligo or to ineffe ctive repopulation of the lesions.