In a study came into view on the March 22 New England Journal of Medicine, scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) have exposed a link between a precise gene and the skin condition vitiligo, as well as a possible host of autoimmune diseases.

Vitiligo is a constant state in which melanocytes “the cells that make pigment” in the skin are damaged. As an effect, white patches emerge on the skin in diverse parts of the body. Alike patches also emerge on both the mucous membranes “tissues that line the inside of the mouth and nose”, and conceivably in the retina “inner layer of the eyeball”. The hair that produces on areas affected by vitiligo sometimes turns white.

The researchers commenced an exploration for genes implicated in vitiligo approximately ten years ago with the help of the Vitiligo Society in the U.K. Richard Spritz, M.D. director of the Human Medical Genetics Program at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center and lead investigator for the study said that “In the start we were looking for numerous family members with vitiligo.”  The researchers sent a survey to members of the society, inquiring them regarding their own vitiligo and whether other relatives were affected. As part of the survey, they also inquired about other autoimmune disease.

That discovery encouraged the researchers to study families with numerous affected members and to look for resemblance in genes between those who were affected. By searching the genome, they revealed a gene, NALP1, which was the key to predispose community to vitiligo and additional autoimmune diseases. Dr. Spritz is now paying attention in finding out more about how the medication may influence people with vitiligo.