We found significantly suppressed mRNA and protein expression of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) M1 isoform, and higher-than-normal levels of both 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE)-protein adducts and H(2)O(2) in the cultures of keratinocytes derived from unaffected and affected skin of vitiligo patients, and in their co-cultures with allogeneic melanocytes.
The incidence of autoantibodies to MelanA in patients with vitiligo (n = 51) and in healthy individuals (n = 20) was examined using a radiobinding assay with 35S]-labelled MelanA and using Western blot analysis with a glutathione S-transferase (GST)-MelanA fusion protein.