MIF-inhibition alleviates vitiligo progression by suppressing CD8 + T cell activation and proliferation.

In vitiligo, autoreactive CD8 + T cell is established as the main culprit considering its pathogenic role in mediating epidermal melanocyte-specific destruction. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic molecular that plays a central role in various immune processes including the activation and proliferation of T cells; but whether MIF is intertwined in vitiligo development and progression and its involvement in aberrantly activated CD8 + T cells remain ill-defined. In the study, we found that MIF was overabundant in vitiligo patients and a mouse model for human vitiligo. Additionally, inhibiting MIF might ameliorate the disease progression in vitiligo mice, which manifested as less infiltration of CD8 + T cells and more retention of epidermal melanocytes in the tail skin. More importantly, in vitro experiments indicated that MIF-inhibition suppressed the activation and proliferation of CD8 + T cells from lymph nodes of vitiligo mice, and the effect extended to CD8 + T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of vitiligo patients. Finally, CD8 + T cells derived from MIF-inhibited vitiligo mice also exhibited an impaired capacity for activation and proliferation. Taken together, our results show that MIF is clinically targetable in vitiligo treatment, and the inhibition of which might ameliorate vitiligo progression through suppressing autoreactive CD8 + T cell activation and proliferation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.