A team of researchers from Inserm has discovered that mites could be the triggering factor for vitiligo in certain individuals. This advance opens up new perspectives for prevention and treatment for this autoimmune disease.
- Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease characterized by white spots on the skin.
- Work by Inserm researchers suggests that mites could promote the development of vitiligo in certain susceptible people.
- The team has also developed a cream capable of protecting the epidermis from mites. It showed promising results during initial tests.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease that causes depigmentation of the skin. It is estimated that 0.5 to 1% of the world’s population suffers from it. White spots visible on the epidermis result from the destruction of melanocytes (cells responsible for producing color pigment) by the immune system. Until now, the causes of this phenomenon remained unknown. However, a team Inserm from the Mediterranean Center for Molecular Medicine, in Nice, has made an important advance. For her, the culprits could be the mites.
Vitiligo: mites promote the development of the disease
How have researchers thought about studying the relationship between mites and vitiligo? Meri Tulicresearcher Inserm at the Mediterranean Center for Molecular Medicine in Nice, explains it in a communicated : “These microscopic organisms can trigger allergies, and this has led to suspect that they could have a link with the immune system abnormalities observed in vitiligo. In addition, mites produce a large number of proteases, proteins that break down other proteins. However, the detachment of melanocytes from the skin of patients involves the destruction of E-cadherinsproteins that allow cells to adhere to each other.
To test their hypothesis, the scientists took epidermis samples from patients affected by vitiligo and from volunteers who did not have the disease. They then exposed them to mites. Molecular analyzes have shown that the mite protease, called Der p1, effectively destroys E-cadherins in the epidermis and causes the detachment of melanocytes.
“If this phenomenon was observed in all samples, it was approximately one hundred times greater in those from patients with vitiligo than with samples from non-diseased skin. There would therefore be an increased susceptibility of certain skin to mites, with more fragile cell junctions in the epidermis and a more reactive immune system.“, specifies the expert.
However, further work is needed to confirm the finding and determine whether individuals with dust mite allergies might constitute a subgroup of people particularly vulnerable to vitiligo.
Vitiligo: a cream that fights mites
After this discovery, the research team worked on developing a cream to combat vitiligo. This ceramide-based product (lipids naturally present in the skin and important for the proper functioning of the skin barrier) presented encouraging results.
When the cream was applied to skin samples exposed to mites, it reduced their harmful effects on the epidermis. The substance allowed, among other things, a reduction in inflammation and the loss of melanocytes.
“The effect is quite significant and associated with a consolidation of the skin barrier,” reports Meri Tulic who believes that this treatment could be used by people with vitiligo to limit the progression of the disease and/or avoid relapses.
