In vitro models of vitiligo

Understanding the mechanisms leading to melanocyte loss in vitiligo is a mandatory step to improve the overall management of vitiligo patients. In vitro strategies to study vitiligo range from the analysis of the whole skin to different skin cell subsets, individually, using different techniques that will be described in this review: primary cell cultures (melanocytes, keratinocytes, or fibroblasts), three-dimensional skin models to reproduce the in vivo network, and isolation of blood or skin mononuclear cells to identify inflammatory cells that are involved in disease development. Cell culture models are useful to investigate the differences between healthy and vitiligo cells and to test potential treatment options in a cell-focusing approach. Beyond the study of vitiligo pathomechanisms or therapies using unmodified patient's cells, in vitro approaches can be also adapted to generate melanocyte-specific silencing or overexpression of putative target genes or, in a further step, to design animal models using melanocyte-specific expression of modified genes.