Our Funds at Work

Searching for molecular signatures that can predict a vitiligo patient's chances of regaining normal skin colour

Youwen Zhou, MD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Vitiligo is a common skin depigmentation condition that affects approximately 1% of the world's population.The most widely used form of therapy for vitiligo is narrow-band ultraviolet B light (NBUVB), which can successfully result in significant repigmentation in about 50% of patients. The reason for the patient-to-patient variation is unknown. However,in recent observations, the molecular signatures of the depigmented skin also differed from one patient to the next, prompting us to postulate that the differences in molecular signatures are the reasons for the patients different outcome after therapy. In this project, we plan to test this hypothesis systematically by enrolling 50 patients with vitiligo who are starting narrow band UVB phototherapy at Vancouver Vitiligo and Pigmentation Clinic, and determine their molecular signatures before they start treatment. They will receive treatment for 6 months and their responses are then recorded. Statistical analyses will be performed to identify the molecular markers most closely associated with therapeutic response to NBUVB phototherapy, currently the most widely used form of vitiligo treatment. This study may generate useful information that can be used to guide therapy selection for vitiligo patients so that only the patients likely to respond will receive therapy.

Peer reviewed publications supported by the Canadian Dermatology Foundation

1. Zhou, Y, Dai D, Martinka M, Su M, Zhang Y, Campos E, Dorocicz I, Tang L, Huntsman D, Nelson C, Ho, V, Li G. Osteopontin expression correlates with melanoma invasion. J Invest Dermatol 2005; 124(5):1044-52.
   
   
2. Tang, L, Dai, D, Martinka, M., Su, MW, Zhang, Y, Li, G and Zhou, Y Aberrant Expression of CTHRC1 in human cancers. Clinical Cancer Research 2006; 12:3716-3722
   
   
3. Ringrose A, Zhou Y, Pang E, Zhou L, Lin AE-J, Sheng G, Li XJ, Weng A, Su M-W, Pittelkow MR and Jiang X. Evidence for an Oncogenic Role of AHI-1 in Sezary Syndrome, a Leukemic Variant of Human Cutaneous T-cell Lymphomas. Leukemia 2006; 20:1593-601
   
   
4. Liang, Y., Yang, S., Zhou, Y., Cui, J., Ren, Y., Chen, J., Fan, X., Sun, L., Xiao, F., Gao, M., Fang, Q., Xu, S., Huang, W., and Zhang, X. Evidence for two susceptibility loci on Chromosome 22q12 and 6p21-p22 in generalized vitiligo families. J Invest Dermatol 2007; 127(11):2552-57
   
   
5. Tang, L., Huang C, Su, MW, Zhang, Y, Ip, W, Martinka, M, and Zhou, Y. Endothelin 3 autocrine pathway in metastatic melanoma. J. Cutaneous Med. Surg. 2008;12(2):64-70
   
   
6. Huang C, Tian J, Tao J, Liu Y, Li Y, Yang L, Zhang J, Li Y, Chen S, Lin N, Shen G, Tu Y, and Zhou Y Endothelin signaling axis activates osteopontin expression through PI3 kinase pathway in A375 melanoma cells. Journal of Dermatological Science. 2008;52:130-134
   
   
7. Kennah E, Ringrose A, Zhou LL, Esmailzadeh S, Qian H, Su M-w, Zhou Y, and Jiang X Identification of tyrosine kinase, HCK, and tumor suppressor, BIN1, as potential mediators of AHI-1 oncogene in primary and transformed CTCL cells, Blood, 2009
   
   
8. Ren, Y, Yang S, Xu, S , Gao M, Huang W, Gao T,Fang Q, Quan C, Zhang C, Sun L, Liang Y, Han J, Wang Z, Zhang F, Zhou Y, Liu J, Zhang X. Genetic Variation of Promoter Sequence Modulates XBP1 Expression and Genetic Risk for Vitiligo PLoS Genetics (2009)
   
   

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