Background:
Vitiligo is characterized by disappearance of melanocytes and one of the important goal of treatment is replenishing the melanocytes from existing reservoirs. Epidermal melanocytes are differentiated cells with low proliferative capacity. The low proliferative capacity of melanocytes contributes significantly to the difficulty of repigmenting vitiligo skin lesions. Dermal stem cells from human skin are multipotent and are capable of differentiating into melanocytes. These dermal stem cells are a reservoir for melanocytes in the more protective dermis of the skin.
Methods:
Skin grafts were collected from lesional and uninvolved skin of vitiligo patients selected at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dermatology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh with their written informed consent and this part of the study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee. Dermal stem cells were cultured, characterized and than differentiated in to functional melanocytes. NGFRp75 positive cells were analysed in dermal cell suspension by FACScan.
Results:
In this study we found that multipotent dermal stem cells are present in the vitiligo patient’s uninvolved skin, lesional skin as well as glabrous lesional skin. These dermal stem cells, grown as three-dimensional spheres, displayed a capacity for self-renewal and expressed NGFRp75, OCT4 and nestin markers. These dermal stem cells were differentiated into functional melanocytes.
CONCLUSION:
Our results demonstrate that stem cells in the dermis of vitiligo skin can become mature epidermal melanocytes and play an important role in the repigmentation of vitiligo lesions. Stimulating these dermal stem cells to differentiate into melanocytes and followed by their migration to lesional skin would be an ideal therapy for the repigmentation of vitiligo lesions.