Vitiligo Skin: Exploring the Dermal Compartment

There is an increasing interest in the apparently normal skin in vitiligo. Altered expression of the adhesion molecule E-cadherin and persistent deregulated intracellular redox status that promotes the acquisition of a stress-induced senescent phenotype in melanocytes of normally pigmented skin from patients with vitiligo have been described. Growing evidence has shown that such cellular and functional alterations are not necessarily restricted to melanocytes but may be extended to other cutaneous cell populations in both lesional and nonlesional areas. However, whether dermal fibroblasts exhibit related alterations that may contribute to the defects associated with melanocytes in vitiligo is not known. Here we reveal within the dermal compartment cells a myofibroblast phenotype and a predisposition to premature senescence, indicating the existence of altered cross-talk between dermal and epidermal components that may affect melanocyte functionality even in the apparently normal skin of patients with vitiligo.