Generalized vitiligo (GV) is characterized by white patches due to autoimmune loss of melanocytes. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) maintain immune homeostasis, while NK cells eliminate pathogens and tumors. Increased NK cell frequency and reduced Treg frequency and suppressive capacity are observed in vitiligo patients. However, studies assessing Treg-mediated suppression of NK cell functions in GV are lacking. Therefore, our study aimed to assess in vitro Treg-mediated suppression of NK cells function over K562 and SK-Mel-28 cells in 31 GV patients and 30 controls using the BrdU-cell proliferation assay. We found decreased Treg-mediated suppression of NK cell function in GV patients (p = 0.0289). Moreover, increased NK cell-mediated K562 and SK-Mel-28 cells’ suppression was observed in GV patients (p = 0.0207,p = 0.0419). Disease activity-based analysis, suggested reduced Treg-mediated suppression of NK cell function and increased NK cell function in active vitiligo patients (p = 0.03,p = 0.0436). Interestingly, age-based analysis suggested decreased Treg-mediated suppression of NK cell function in 1–20 and 21–40 years age groups compared to 41–60 years age group of GV patients (p = 0.005,p = 0.0380). Overall, our study, for the first time, suggests that decreased Treg-mediated suppression of NK cells may lead to increased destruction of melanocytes in GV, and this knowledge may help in developing effective therapeutics based on Tregs and NK cells for GV.

全身性白癜风(GV) 的特征是由于自身免疫性黑素细胞丧失而出现白斑。调节性 T 细胞 (Treg) 维持免疫稳态，而 NK 细胞则消除病原体和肿瘤。在白癜风患者中观察到 NK 细胞频率增加，Treg 频率和抑制能力降低。然而，缺乏评估 GV 中 Treg 介导的 NK 细胞功能抑制的研究。因此，我们的研究旨在使用 BrdU 细胞增殖测定，在 31 名 GV 患者和 30 名对照者中体外我们发现 GV 患者中 Treg 介导的 NK 细胞功能抑制减少 (p = 0.0289)。此外，在 GV 患者中观察到 NK 细胞介导的 K562 和 SK-Mel-28 细胞抑制增加 (p = 0.0207，p = 0.0419)。基于疾病活动性的分析表明，活动性白癜风患者中 Treg 介导的 NK 细胞功能抑制减少，NK 细胞功能增加（p = 0.03，p = 0.0436）。有趣的是，基于年龄的分析表明，与 41-60 岁 GV 患者组相比，1-20 岁和 21-40 岁年龄组的 Treg 介导的 NK 细胞功能抑制减少（p = 0.005，p = 0.0380）。总体而言，我们的研究首次表明，Treg 介导的 NK 细胞抑制减少可能导致 GV 中黑色素细胞的破坏增加，这一知识可能有助于开发基于 Tregs 和 NK 细胞的 GV 有效疗法。