Abstract: Objective To investigate the level of NF-E2 related factor 2 （Nrf 2） in vitiligo lesions. Methods Tissue samples were obtained by press suction blisters at lesional and donor sites of 12 patients with vitiligo who were managed with epidermal transplantation. Four lesional samples from the patients were subjected to primary culture and the level of Nrf 2 was detected by AEC immunohistochemistry after 48 hours of culture. Western blotting was utilized to further detect the level of cytoplasmic and nucleic Nrf 2 in tissue samples from the other 8 patients with vitiligo. Results Immunohistochemistry revealed that Nrf 2 was predominantly expressed in cytoplasm, rather than nuclei, of keratinocytes in vitiligo lesions compared with the normal skin of patients. The level of nucleic Nrf 2 was significantly lower in lesions than that in normal skin （0.10 ± 0.03 vs 0.26 ± 0.03, P < 0.01） of the patients. In contrast, there was no significant difference in the level of cytoplasmic Nrf 2 between lesional and normal skin （0.61 ± 0.03 vs 0.60 ± 0.02, P > 0.05） of patients. Conclusion These results reveal an abnormality of nuclear translocation of Nrf 2 in vitiligo lesions.