Evaluation of the level of elafin in the sera and tissues of nonsegmental vitiligo patients

Background Vitiligo is considered as a depigmenting skin disorder. Various proteins and inhibitors have been implicated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. Elafin is a skin-derived anti-leukoproteinase that is elastase-specific protease inhibitor expressed mainly in epithelial cells. It is expressed in lung and displaying anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Objective To measure and compare the concentration level of elafin in both serum and tissue of vitiligo patients with healthy controls. Also, to detect the association of elafin with other descriptive; clinical and precipitating factors. Patients and methods In this control study, 30 patients with nonsegmental vitiligo and 30 apparently healthy volunteers as controls were involved in the study. For evaluating the level of elafin in serum, 3 ml blood samples were collected from patients and controls. While for assessment of the concentration level of elafin in tissue, 4 mm punch skin biopsies were obtained from lesional areas of patients, while control samples were collected from anatomically matched sites in healthy volunteers. Both serum and skin biopsy were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results The concentration level of elafin was significantly elevated in vitiligo patients compared to healthy controls for both serum (64.81±40.95, 36.29±5.61) and tissue (7736.61±4230.13, 406.25±82.83), respectively with P value=0.0001 each. Results revealed that patients with sudden onset had higher levels of elafin in serum than patients with gradual onset ( P =0.037). Also, patients with progressive disease had higher levels than stationary vitiligo patients group but with no significance difference between the two groups. There was a positive correlation between elafin concentration in serum and tissue ( r =0.452, P =0.012). Conclusion The elevated levels of elafin in vitiligo patients suggest its role as a host protective response in disease pathogenesis and support its promise as a biomarker and a possible therapeutic target.