Abstract

Introduction: Vitiligo is a skin disease that causes depigmentation due to the destruction of epidermal melanocytes. The etiology of vitiligo is unknown, and it is mainly related to an autoimmune factor, coursing with imbalance of cytokines in the injured areas. Infliximab is an anti-TNF-α antibody that prevents the binding of TNF-α to its receptors, this can cause both a protective effect and an inducing effect on the autoimmunity of vitiligo.

Objective: Report a case of improvement of vitiligo after treatment with Infliximab and review the existing literature on this subject.

Method: Case report selected due the improvement of vitiligo after the use of Infliximab by means of the analysis of medical records, followed by a bibliographic review in textbooks and Pubmed and Google Scholar databases, which results in a qualitative and exploratory analysis of the literature.

Results: Description of the improvement of a patient with vitiligo after six months of treatment with Infliximab used for Crohn’s disease.

Conclusion: Anti-TNF-α agents have been a promising method for the treatment of vitiligo, especially in refractory cases. Infliximab, however, has presented controversial results in the literature, such as aggravation of the condition or onset cases. The results of this report raises suspicions about the effects of TNF-α inhibition of vitiligo’s pathophysiology, therefore the role of Infliximab as a treatment form remains questionable.

Keywords: Vitiligo; Infliximab; Crohn’s Disease; Case Reports; Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha

References

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Citation

Citation: Cardoso Mateus Ricardo., et al. “Vitiligo Improvement in Patient with Crohn’s Disease Undergoing Treatment with Infliximab". Acta Scientific Gastrointestinal Disorders 3.12 (2020): 30-33.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Cardoso Mateus Ricardo., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.