Vitiligo – from clinical manifestations to pathophysiological mechanisms and cell death

Abstract

The pathogenesis of vitiligo is still unclear. The complexity of the disease seems to be based on the inter-vention of environmental factors in the background of genetic predisposition which will determine the response of the immune system, the involvement of the nervous and endocrine systems, altered metabolisms and increased oxidative stress-all these elements leading to melanocytic dysfunction and their subsequent destruction. Melanocytic death has a clinical correspondent that embraces the form of white macules on the skin, associated or not with leucotrichia. A better understanding of vitiligo' s pathophysiology and mechanisms of cell death at the skin level can be a step to some appropriate treatment strategies.