Autoantibodies in vitiligo.

To the Editor.— The association of vitiligo with a number of organspecific autoimmune disorders, such as pernicious anemia, 1 hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, 2 Addison disease, 3 and diabetes mellitus 4 is well known. An increased incidence of organ-specific antibodies was reported in patients with vitiligo, 5,6 but, more recently, no statistically significant incidence of autoantibodies was found in vitiligo patients. 7 One of the difficulties in accepting an autoimmune form of vitiligo has been the absence of circulating antimelanocyte antibodies; only Von Langhof et al 8 found an "antimelanin antibody" in serum samples from patients with vitiligo, but their report was not confirmed. 7 Antibodies against the cytoplasm of malignant melanoma cells have been found in cases of vitiligo associated with resolving halo nevus, but not in isolated vitiligo. 9 We here report our attempts to demonstrate a specific antimelanocyte antibody in sera of patients with vitiligo. Patients and Methods.—