The following is a summary of “Lesional CD8+ T-Cell Number Predicts Surgical Outcomes of Melanocyte–Keratinocyte Transplantation Surgery for Vitiligo,” published in the November 2023 issue of Dermatology by Refat, et al.

Vitiligo that won’t go away can be treated with the melanocyte–keratinocyte transfer process (MKTP). Even though individuals are carefully chosen based on their clinical health, it is impossible to know if the treatment will work. For a study, researchers sought to find out the immune profile of steady vitiligo patches going through MKTP and how that matched the clinical results. As a comparison, they used a patient with piebaldism and 20 MKTP prospects who had vitiligo. 

Flow cytometry and ELISA were used to measure T-cell groups and chemokines in the patient skin before MKTP. Flow cytometry counted the number of melanocytes in the donated skin during MKTP. After MKTP, patients were watched for a year, and repigmentation was checked both visually and by analyzing clinical photos in Image. 

Post-surgery repigmentation scores were linked to baseline immune biomarkers, the length of clinical stability, and the number of implanted melanocytes. In 43% of the clinically stable vitiligo patches, the number of CD8⁺ T cells was higher. The amount of CD8⁺ T cells was negatively related to the scores for repigmentation after surgery (r = -0.635, P = 0.002). Skin chemokines, the amount of donated melanocytes, and the length of clinical stability did not affect repigmentation after surgery. The research showed that the amount of CD8⁺ T cells is negatively related to the success of repigmentation after surgery and can be used as a measure to find the best candidates for surgery.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022202X23024090