Vitiligo is a hypomelanotic autoimmune skin disease, commonly in young people under the age of 20 years old, and mainly affects the appearance and psychology. The pathogenesis of vitiligo is not clear now; the immune mechanism theory is better one of lots related pathogenesis theory, which has the strongest of persuasion. The pathogenesis of vitiligo may involve immune tolerance damage and some substance from autoimmune reactions produce a harmful effect on the normal metabolism of melanoma cells, thus lead to loss of damage of melanin that result in the development of vitiligo.Regulatory T cells (Treg) can inhibit autoimmune reaction, inhibit the excessive immune response of normal T cells of pathogenic factors, prevent the occurrence of autoimmune diseases, and maintain immune tolerance of body, and avoid the damage of own tissues and organs during immunological process. Many studies focused on the role of Treg in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and autoimmune thyroid disease. The antigen-specific human Treg cells are important cells in the process of the immune system repairing by itself, and play an important role in protecting melanoma and thyroid follicular cell from excessive immune response during the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid disease and vitiligo, preventing the occurrence of these diseases. So, vitiligo and some autoimmune diseases may have a common intersection point on the etiology. The treatment for vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases based on Treg cell may bring new opportunities to the patients. So, the further study of the immunologic mechanism of Treg involved in vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases shows important significance in the new treatment and development of new drugs. This paper will investigate the immune mechanism of Treg cells in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and autoimmune thyroid disease, and further clarify the relationship between vitiligo and autoimmune thyroid disease.
DownLoad: