November 23, 2008 on 8:28 am | In mybachcars.com |
Does a person with vitiligo have an increased risk of developing skin cancer?
Does a person with vitiligo have an increased risk of developing skin cancer?Hello and thank you for your question. Although the lack of
pigmentation increases exposure to sunlight in the affected areas,
vitiligo does not increase the risk of developing skin cancer. In
fact, it likely reduces the risk.
"[M]any vitiligo experts believe there is not an increased risk for
skin cancer in vitiligo patients. According to Pearl Grimes, MD,
considered one of the world's leading medical experts on vitiligo,
'the current data show no increase in skin cancer in vitiligo
patients, both within the vitiligo patches, or the normal
skin...either way.'
Some in the medical profession believe there may be no increased risk
in the case of melanomas, but that there may be a slightly elevated
risk for some types of carcinomas. The medical community is still
investigating this question, but the answer may well be important both
for cancer and vitiligo research."
http://www.vitiligosupport.com/faq.cfm#item20
In fact, although "patients with vitiligo should use sunscreen of SPF
15 or higher on the white patchy areas to prevent sunburn and skin
cancer....
People with vitiligo seem to be less likely to get skin cancer for
reasons that are being studied.
http://www.skinsite.com/info_vitiligo.htm
"Three patients with malignant melanoma and coexisting vitiligo are
described. All three appear to exhibit at least partial spontaneous
control of the melanoma. The hypothesis is made that there may be a
significant association between vitiligo and regressing melanoma. The
basis for this is the fact that there may be an association between
vitiligo and the production of an antimelanoma antibody, promoting
rejection of the melanoma."
Gregor RT.,Vitiligo and malignant melanoma: a significant association?.
South African Medical Journal. 50(3F):1447-9, 1976 Aug 28.
"Vitiligo is significantly associated with positive clinical response,
but the mechanism is not understood."
Spontaneous vitiligo in an animal model for human melanoma: role of
tumor-specific CD8+ T cells.
Cancer Research. 64(4):1496-501, 2004 Feb 15.
"Vitiligo is a disease in which melanocytes are selectively destroyed.
The disease is thought to be an autoimmune process being there are
antibodies to pigment cells in the sera of patients and animals with
vitiligo. In the present study, sera from vitiligo patients were
examined for reactivity with the human melanoma cell line.... The
results suggest that autoreactivity to pigment cells occurs more
commonly in patients with vitiligo than in the normal control."
[I understand this to mean that vitiligo confers some resistance to melanoma.]
Hann, Detection of antibodies to human melanoma cell in vitiligo by
western blot analysis.
Yonsei Medical Journal. 36(5):457-61, 1995 Nov.
Search terms used:
In Google:
vitiligo cancer
In Medline:
vitiligo melanoma
Thank you again for letting us help - - I hope you find this information useful.
Sincerely,
Google Answers Researcher
Richard-ga
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