Increased Numbers of Langerhans' Cells in Vitiligo

To the Editor.—  Vitiligo may belong to the category of autoimmune diseases since a great proportion of patients have circulating antimelanocytic antibodies.¹ However, other components of the immune system might be involved as well, as it is suggested by the work of Hatchome et al² who reported a weaker hypersensitivity response to dinitrochlorobenzene in vitiliginous skin compared with uninvolved skin. They also reported a normal number of epidermal Langerhans' cells (LCs) in vitiliginous skin. However, contrary to their findings, we observed increased numbers of LCs in vitiliginous skin compared with normal skin of matched controls.We studied lesions from ten patients with vitiligo by indirect immunofluorescence using OKT6 monoclonal antibody.³ Our results (Table) show a significant increase in the content of LCs in involved skin of patients with vitiligo compared with normal matched controls (P <.001).Before the advent of monoclonal antibodies, it was believed that the