Relationship between the serum TGF β1 level and anti organ-specific antibodies in vitiligo patients

To our knowledge, there is a hypothesis regarding the association of vitiligo with other autoimmune disorders. organ-specific autoantibodies are found more frequently in the serum of vitiligo patients. recent studies have demonstrated the role of alterations in serum transforming growth factor-beta (tgf-beta) released from regulatory t cells in the pathogenesis of depigmentation observed in vitiligo. it has been shown that in comparison with patients without autoimmune diseases, serum tgf-beta levels increase in patients whose vitiligo is associated with autoimmune diseases. we hypothesized a relationship between serum tgf-beta levels and organ-specific autoantibodies that could predict other autoimmune diseases in vitiligo patients. method: forty-five patients with a mean age of 35.96±13.34 years who had stable vitiligo since 1 year ago and involvement of up to 30% body surface area were enrolled. organ-specific autoantibodies (ana, anti mitochondrial ab, anti tpo (anti thyroid microsomal ab), anti parietal cell ab, anti thyroglobulin ab) and serum tgf-beta level were evaluated. result: twenty-three patients (51.11%) had at least one positive organ-specific autoantibody. anti tpo in 16 patients, anti thyroglobulin ab in 9 patients, anti parietal cell ab and ana each in 5 patients, and anti mitochondrial ab in 4 patients were positive. mean serum tgf-beta level was 105.82±30.33; there was no significant difference in serum tgf-b level between patients with and without positive organ-specific autoantibody (p=0.26). conclusion: although another study showed the relationship between serum tgf-beta levels and autoimmune disorders in vitiligo patients, we did not find a significant difference in serum tgf-beta levels in these patients regarding the positivity of organ-specific antibodies. it may be due to the fact that our patients had autoantibodies without clinical autoimmune disease except vitiligo.