Does autoimmune vitiligo protect against COVID‐19 disease?

The SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic has evolved to a global health problem with a dramatic morbidity and mortality rate impacting our daily life and those of many patients. While there is evidence that some diseases are associated with an increased risk for development of a more severe course of COVID‐19, littl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental Dermatology 2021-09, Vol.30 (9), p.1254-1257
Main Authors: Post, Nicoline F., Luiten, Rosalie M., Wolkerstorfer, Albert, Bekkenk, Marcel W., Böhm, Markus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive immunity
Antiviral activity
Autoimmune diseases
Autoimmunity
CD8 antigen
coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2
COVID-19
Cytokine storm
Disease
Hypotheses
Hypothesis Letter
Immune clearance
Infections
inflammation
Innate immunity
Lymphocytes T
Morbidity
Mucosa
Pandemics
Public health
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Vitiligo
γ-Interferon
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic has evolved to a global health problem with a dramatic morbidity and mortality rate impacting our daily life and those of many patients. While there is evidence that some diseases are associated with an increased risk for development of a more severe course of COVID‐19, little is known on protective conditions. Importantly, clearance of viral infection and protection against disease manifestation crucially depends on functional innate and adaptive immunity and the interferon signalling axis. Here, we hypothesize that patients with non‐segmental vitiligo (NSV), an autoimmune skin (and mucosal) disorder, may clear SARS‐CoV‐2 infection more efficiently and have a lower risk of COVID‐19 development. Conversely, in case of COVID‐19 development, vitiligo autoimmunity may influence the cytokine storm‐related disease burden. In addition, immune activation during SARS‐CoV‐2 infection or COVID‐19 disease might increase vitiligo disease activity. Our hypothesis is based on the shift of the immune system in NSV towards adaptive type 1 (IFNγ and CD8 T cells) and innate immune responses. Identified susceptibility genes of NSV patients may further confer increased antiviral activity. To validate our hypothesis, we suggest an international consortium to perform a retrospective data registry and patient‐reported study on a large number of NSV patients worldwide during the COVID‐19 pandemic.
ISSN:0906-6705
1600-0625
DOI:10.1111/exd.14407