Expression levels of MIF, NLRP1 and FOXP3 genes along with biomarker levels in patients with active form of non-segmental generalized vitiligo: A study in South Indian population

Abstract

Vitiligo, the most widespread hypopigmentary syndrome, is considered to be a multifactorial disease in which the active melanocytes are lost. Vitiligo has been studied in a variety of ways, and several genes have been implicated. In this study we focused on investigating biomarker levels of TNF-α, MDA and TAS by using ELISA, and along with that mRNA expression levels of MIF, NLRP1 and FoxP3 genes were quantified with qRT-PCR. In expression studies, Non-segmental Generalized Vitiligo (NSV) subjects had a substantial (P <.05) fold change in MIF gene expression compared to healthy subjects, with a 0.7 change in expression level. In FoxP3 and NLRP1, however, there was just an 0.3-fold change in expression. However, there was a substantial increase (P <.01) in TNF-α and (P <.0005) in TAS levels, but no difference in Malondialdehyde levels (MDA). The current study is a baseline study suggesting that MIF, with a 0.7-fold change, may play a key role in the pathogenesis of active NSV subjects, while changes in NLRP1 and FoxP3 mRNA expression levels were weaker. We also found a significant increase (P <.01) in TNF-α and (P <.0005) in TAS levels, which may be noted as a key feature in Vitiligo subjects.

Keywords

• vitiligo
• mif
• nlrp1
• foxp3
• tnf-α
• mda
• tas