Active clinical trials for "Vitiligo"

This is a pilot study to evaluate the findings of the Reflectance Confocal Microscopy when performed in cutaneous pigmentary disorders, such as vitiligo, melasma, post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation and hypo-pigmentation. Confocal Microscopy is a recent diagnostic technique that has been used for observation of skin conditions that affect the superficial layers of the skin.

Vitiligo is a common depigmented skin disease characterized by destruction of functional melanocyte.The recent therapies to vitiligo are including oral or external glucocorticoids, antioxidants, calcineurin inhibitors or phototherapy. However, long treatment period and unsatisfactory curative effects still exist, which confer long-term psychological burden to patients. As above concerns, it is of great value to explore therapeutic methods that can effectively control disease, improve appearance, relieve patients' pain and improve their quality of life. Current problem is the lack of a vitiligo life quality evaluation scale with Chinese characteristics for us. Therefore, it is necessary for the investigator to compile a vitiligo quality of life scale that is simple, feasible and applicable to China's national conditions. Meanwhile the reliability analysis must be carried out to bring better quality of life assessment tools to patients with vitiligo in China. Previous studies recommended that CapulinTM showing a good cover effect on vitiligo, but the effects of camouflage on the QoL of patients with vitiligo in Chinese population is unknown. Thus, the investigators undergo a randomized open-label controlled study to estimate the effects of CapulinTM on QoL of patients with vitiligo.

The molecular mechanisms of action of photo(chemo)therapy in skin diseases are investigated in this study. The phototherapeutic modalities employed include UVB (ultraviolet B), UVA (ultraviolet A), PUVA (psoralen+UVA) and/or extracorporeal photochemotherapy (photopheresis). The study will address whether and how photo(chemo)therapy affects specific biologic pathways in different skin disorders and search for predictive biomarkers.

Vitiligo is considered the most common chronic depigmentation disorder that affects around 0.5 -2% of the world population . In Africa , its prevelance is around 0.4% and 1.22 % in Assiut . Treatment of vitiligo includes medical topical and systemic immune -suppressants ,phototherapy and surgical modalities .Despite the numerous treatment options , the treatment of choice is still controversial as the response is variable , unsatisfactory ,and requires a prolonged course. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are required . Platelet -rich plasma (PRP) is a treatment modality which has been used over the last several years in various medical and surgical fields . It is composed of high concentration of platelets , several growth factors and plasma proteins such as fibrin, fironectin ,vitronectin .This is hypothesized to stimulate keratinocytes and fibroblasts proliferation . Another treatment modality is the fractional CO2 (Fr: CO2) laser .There are theories that fractional CO2 laser causes release of various types of cytokines and growth factors that can stimulate migration of melanocytes and act as mitogens for melanogenesis . Melanogenesis is a complex process with involvement of multiple signaling pathways. Therefore, there have been extensive efforts to reveal the molecular mechanisms that control melanogenesis as the main step for treating hypopigmentary skin disorders . There is yet very limited histopathological and molecular information about how the signaling networks are involved in the initiation , progression and also treatment of vitiligo disease.

The incidence of leucotrichia has been reported to range from 9 to 48.4% of all vitiligo patients.Leucotrichia is more often observed in segmental vitiligo with a very high percentage. However, further studies considering the prevalence of leucotrichia in different types of vitiligo need to be conducted.

This case control study aims to determine whether spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is associated with autoimmune diseases and to update the incidence of SCAD in a population-based cohort.

This cohort study is a large population-based study in the UK to determine the risks of comorbid mental health conditions (including depression, anxiety and other potential psychological complications of vitiligo) in adults with vitiligo compared to controls and to evaluate whether the relative risks may vary by different ethnicity.

The cohort included only major patients with non-segmental vitiligo and no other autoimmune or inflammatory associated diseases (except thyroiditis). Control subjects should have no autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. Patients and controls should not take treatment with corticosteroids or other potentially immunomodulatory therapies. Patients and controls are recruited in the Dermatology Department of the University Hospital of Nice and the Hospital of Fréjus. The investigators have already initiated the collection of tissues and blood from patients and control subjects and we have succeeded in isolating ILCs and NKs from a blood volume of 50ml. We were able to sort the ILC subpopulations. Early data suggest an increase in Natural Killer (NK) and Innate Lymphoïdes Cells 1 (ILC1) in the blood of vitiligo patients compared to control subjects. The investigators also managed to extract the melanocytes from the skin biopsies of the first patients and control subjects.

This study series consists of four related studies and aims to explore and describe many important elements of alopecia areata over three key areas: (1) the current epidemiology of alopecia areata, (2) the prevalence and incidence of psychiatric co-morbidities in people with alopecia areata, (3) the prevalence and incidence of autoimmune and atopic conditions in people with alopecia areata, and (4) the incidence of common infections in people with alopecia areata.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and sleep problems in patients with chronic skin diseases in dermatology clinics at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.