Oncotarget

Research Perspectives:

New Perspectives on the Role of Vitiligo in Immune Responses to Melanoma

Katelyn T. Byrne and Mary Jo Turk _

PDF  |  HTML  |  How to cite

Oncotarget. 2011; 2:684-694. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.323

Metrics: PDF 3589 views  |   HTML 6329 views  |   ?  


Abstract

Katelyn T. Byrne and Mary Jo Turk

1Dartmouth Medical School and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA

Received: September 7, 2011; Accepted: September 9, 2011; Published: September 10, 2011;

Keywords: melanoma, vitiligo, melanocytes, CD8 T cells, CD4 T cells, T cell memory

Correspondence:

Mary Jo Turk, email:

Abstract

Melanoma-associated vitiligo is the best-studied example of the linkage between tumor immunity and autoimmunity. Although vitiligo is an independent positive prognostic factor for melanoma patients, the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes was long thought to be merely a side effect of robust anti-tumor immunity. However, new data reveal a key role for vitiligo in supporting T cell responses to melanoma. This research perspective reviews the history of melanoma-associated vitiligo in patients, the experimental studies that form the basis for understanding this relationship, and the unique characteristics of melanoma-specific CD8 T cells found in hosts with vitiligo. We also discuss the implications of our recent findings for the interpretation of patient responses, and the design of next-generation cancer immunotherapies.


Creative Commons License All site content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PII: 323