Korean J Dermatol.
1996 Dec;34(6):968-972.
The Genetics of Vitiligo in Korean Patients
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Dermatology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Chunan, Korea.
- 2Department of Biology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Chunan, Korea.
- 3Department of Dermatology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
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BABCKGROUND: Vitiligo is a cornmon disorder whose cause is not well understood. Up to 30% of patients had another family member with vitiligo which means that vitiligo is a heritable condition. We could not find any study for the genetics of vitiligo in Korean literature.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to clarify how genetic factors are involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo in Korean patients.
METHODS
We analyzed the 65 Korean vitiligo probands and their families. Each family was ascertained through a proband afflicted with vitiligo.
RESULTS
1. Focal type of vitiligo(44.6%) appeared to be with the highest frequency followed by the non-segmental generalized type(35.4%) and segmental type(20.0%). 2. The t,ype of vitiligo was not related with sex (p>0.9, X(2)(d.l=2) = 0.14). 3. There was a clear pattern of a familial aggregation of the vitiligo disease. In 29(44.6%) of these 65 proband families, at least one first-degree relative of the proband had vitiligo. The incidence of people affected among their 789 relatives (first, second and third-degree) was also found to be 9.13+/-1.03% 4. Several families in this study were shown to have father-son transmission of vitiligo, which indicates that vitiligo does not fit an x-linked inheritance. 5. There is a statistically significant departure frorn the expected which is inconsistent with a utosomal dominant inheritance (p<0.001, X(2)(d.l=2) = 52.32). 6. A single recessive model at the autosomal locus is not an explanation in deter mining the cause of vitiligo. The threshold trait among first-degree relatives(8.8%) shows a tendency to approach the square root of the frequency in the general population(10%) compared to those of dominant(50%) or recessive(25%) models. This result is consistent with a model of multifactorial inheritence for vitiligo.
CONCLUSION
These result indicate that vitiligo is determined by a polygenic nature.
