Immunohistochemical Expression of Mortalin in Vitiligo Patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Andrology, Faculty of Medicine Suez Canal University, Egypt.

2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Vitiligo is the most common skin disease, that leads to progressive loss of skin resident melanocytes. The cause of vitiligo has not been universally agreed upon yet. Mortalin (Hsp70 family member) is an anti-apoptotic protein, having different functions such as protein folding, oxidative stress regulation, and intracellular transport, in addition to being one of the cellular chaperones. Mortalin is involved in melanogenesis. Aim: This study aimed to assess the immunohistochemical expression of Mortalin in vitiligo patients’ skin, and its correlation with disease clinical pattern, activity, and severity. Subjects and Methods: Tissue expression of Mortalin was assessed using immunohistochemical technique in the skin of 40 vitiligo patients (lesional and perilesional skin) and 40 healthy controls and analyzed by image analyzing software. Vitiligo disease activity and severity were assessed by using the Vitiligo disease activity (VIDA) score, and Vitiligo extent score (VES). Results: Mean immunohistochemical tissue expression (percentage of area stained) of mortal in lesional skin biopsies of vitiligo patients were significantly higher than perilesional skin (p1<0.001) and control skin (p < sub>2<0.001) biopsies. It was found that mortalin tissue expression in lesional and perilesional skin biopsies showed no significant relation to clinical patterns. In lesional skin biopsies, tissue expression of mortalin was significantly related and inversely proportional to VIDA (p=0.019), and VES (p=0.026). Conclusions: Results indicate a possible relation between mortalin and melanocyte loss in vitiligo. The results support the possible future use of mortalin as treatment in vitiligo patients, owing to its anti-apoptotic and stress regulatory action, and its role in inducing melanogenesis. It can also be used as a marker of disease activity and progression.
 

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