Vitiligo as a skin memory disease: The need for early intervention with immunomodulating agents and a maintenance therapy to target resident memory T cells.

ABSTRACT

The understanding of the immune mechanisms of vitiligo has profoundly improved over the past years. The recent discovery of a new population of antigen-experienced memory T cells called resident memory T cells (TRM ) has changed the concept of immune surveillance in peripheral tissue as skin, and the presence of melanocyte-specific TRM is clearly demonstrated in vitiligo, a disease that could be now seen such as a memory skin disease. This review summarizes the recent knowledge on skin TRM and their role in vitiligo. Future management or therapies for this disease will have the goal to block their migration/differentiation, to dampen their activation and/or their accumulation in the vitiligo skin to prevent flare-up or to promote repigmentation.