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Endothelin-1 and its A and B receptors: Are they possibly involved in vitiligo?
Dalia Gamal Aly
; Department of Dermatology and Venereology, National Research Center, El-Bhoos St
Samar Abdallah Mohamed Salem
; Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Ain Shams University, Abasseya square
Mahmoud Fawzy Abdel-Hamid
; Department of Dermatology and Venereology, National Research Center, El-Bhoos St
Nermeen Salah Youssef
; Pathology Department, Ain Shams University, Abasseya square, Cairo, Egypt.
Marwa Abdel Moneim El Shaer
; Pathology Department, National Research Center, El-Bhoos St., Dokky, Giza, Egyp
Abstract
Background. Endothelin-1 (ET-1), expressed by keratinocytes, has paracrine effects on melanocytes. The endothelin 1-axis [ET-1, endothelin A receptor (ETAR) and endothelin B receptor (ETBR)] is thought to play a role in the depigmentation process occurring in vitiligo, with no studies on the cutaneous protein expression of this axis in the disease. Objectives. To compare the expression of ET-1 axis in lesional and perilesional normal epidermis of vitiligo patients. Methods. Ten patients with non-segmental stable vitiligo were included. Skin biopsies from all patients were studied immunohistochemically for ET-1, ETAR and ETBR expression. Results. There was no statistically significant difference between lesional vitiligo and perilesional normal epidermis regarding rates of expression of ET-1, ETAR and ETBR (P-value =0.82, 0.5 and ˃0.99 respectively). Semi quantitative analysis of ETAR revealed higher staining grades in lesional compared with perilesional normal epidermis but with a statistically significant difference (P-value =0.04). There was also no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the staining grades of ET-1 and ETBR (P-value>0.05 in both markers). A highly significant positive correlation was detected between ET-1 and ETAR (r =0.99, P-value <0.05) and between ET-1 and ETBR (r=0.87, P-value<0.05). Conclusion. This study shows unaltered expression of ET-1 axis in keratinocytes in lesional vitiligo and perilesional normal epidermis. Further studies on the differential expression of this axis in keratinocytes and melanocytes are therefore required.
Keywords
Endothelin A receptor (ETAR); endothelin B receptor (ETBR); endothelin-1 (ET-1); melanocytes; vitiligo
Hrčak ID:
101614
URI
Publication date:
10.5.2013.
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