Abstract: The proliferative responses of lymphocytes of vitiligo patients to cultured normal human melanocytes were studied. Lymphocyte transformation test with cultured normal melanocytes as specific antigen was performed in 26 vitiligo patients and 22 healthy individuals as control. It was found that the incorporation of ³HTdR in the vitiligo patients was 230.48±28.94 cpm, while 99.03±12.15 cpm in the controls. The results indicated that the patients with vitiligo had a signihcantly increased proliferative responses of lymphocytes to normal melanocytes in comparisons with the controls. The proliferative responses of lymphocytes showed no correlation with the sex or disease duration in the patients. The results suggest that aberrations in cell-mediated immunity may play a role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.

Key words: Vitiligo, Melanocyte, Lymphocyte transformation