Whipping Melanocytes – Combined Treatment for Repigmenting Vitiligo

Afamelanotide plus narrowband UVB phototherapy was effective for repigmentation.

Vitiligo resists treatment — understandably, as depigmented patches lack melanocytes, and any treatment must replace melanocytes before pigment can reappear. A recent report recounts the response in four adults with generalized vitiligo involving 15% to 30% of total body surface treated two or three times weekly for 1 month with narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB). These exposures were proposed to stimulate undifferentiated melanoblasts and melanocyte stem cells in the protective niches of hair follicle bulge areas to express melanocortin receptors (MC1Rs). Starting in the second month, the investigators injected implants containing 16 mg of afamelanotide ([Nle4-D-Phe7]-α-MSH) into the subcutaneous fat above the suprailiac crest so that the a…

Reviewing Author

Mark V. Dahl, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory board Ulthera, Inc.; AuBio LifeSciences, LLC; Paris Therapeutics

Equity Elorac, Inc.; Makucell, Inc.; Paris Therapeutics

Editorial boards UpToDate

Leadership positions in professional societiesNational Rosacea Society (Chairman, Medical Board)

Mark V. Dahl, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory board Ulthera, Inc.; AuBio LifeSciences, LLC; Paris Therapeutics

Equity Elorac, Inc.; Makucell, Inc.; Paris Therapeutics

Editorial boards UpToDate

Leadership positions in professional societiesNational Rosacea Society (Chairman, Medical Board)