الفهرس 
VitiligoOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Vitiligo is an acquired depigmentation disorder involving around 1-2% of population worldwide disregarding age, race and gender. The sufferers are characterized by selective melanocyte destruction in the skin. Reduced number of melanocytes in the skin results in depigmented patches in different parts of body, emerge mostly in second to fourth decades of life.
Exact pathogenesis of the disease is still not obvious, genetics and nervous defects, neuropeptides, biochemical and auto-destructive mechanisms as well as viral infection and hormonal or cytokine interactions are blamed to be the triggers.
Prolactin is a hormone secreted by lactotrop cells in pituitary gland. PRL seems to have additional functions in skin biology and hair follicle growth as well. It is known as an immunomodulatory factor not only in cell development, especially for T and B lymphocytes, but also in dendritic cells function as suggested in vitiligo and other skin diseases.
The aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of PRL in patients with vitiligo in comparison to healthy control and to assess its correlation with prolactin gene polymorphism and vitiligo severity.
This prospective case-control study was conducted on forty patients complaining of vitiligo vulgaris, and forty age and sex matched healthy volunteers. Patients were recruited from outpatient clinic of Dermatology, Venereology and Andrology Department of Benha University Hospitals. Informed consents were obtained from all participants. The study was approved by the local ethics committee on research involving human subjects, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University.
Summary and Conclusion
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Results of the present study showed that:
1. There was non-significant difference between patients and control groups regarding age, BMI, SBP, DBP, sex or special habits.
2. There was non-significant difference as regard serum PRL in patients group compared to control group.
3. In patients group, PRL gene polymorphism showed non-significant correlation with sex, special habits and family history.
4. In patients group, PRL gene polymorphism showed non-significant correlation with age, SBP, DBP, serum PRL, duration of vitiligo and VASI score. While it showed a significant correlation with BMI.
5. In patients group, serum PRL showed non-significant correlation with age, BMI, SBP, DBP, duration of vitiligo and VASI score.
Conclusion
from the results of present study, it is concluded that:
Since PRL is also produced locally in the skin, it is supposed that local release of hormone cannot hit the threshold of serum identified levels of PRL resulting in normal concentrations in vitiligo. As, there was not any significant correlation between serum concentration of PRL and vitiligo vulgaris occurrence or its severity. Hence, we suggest that PRL and PRL gene polymorphism have no role in pathogenesis of vitiligo.