"Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks normal pigment cells," said Richard Spritz, MD, from the Human Medical Genetics and Genomics Program at the CU School of Medicine.
In addition, people who suffer vitiligo have an increased risk of other autoimmune diseases, such as thyroid disease and type 1 diabetes.
The study of 3,000 people with vitiligo (non-Hispanik/Latin American of European descent) found that people with blue eyes tend not to have vitiligo. The researchers also identified 13 new genes that may affect a person is in such condition.
Among patients with vitiligo, about 27 percent have blue or gray eyes, while 43 percent have brown eyes, and 30 percent have green eyes.
Although this study focuses on vitiligo, the researchers also discovered other findings, how the eye color also helps predict the risk for melanoma. People with brown eyes have a lower risk of developing melanoma.
"Genetically, in some cases vitiligo and melanoma showed the opposite. Some genetic variations make a person at risk for vitiligo, and other people tend to be less susceptible to melanoma, and vice versa. We think that vitiligo represents the excessive activity of a normal process, which one of the immune system find and destroy the cells of the early development of melanoma cancer cells, "he said.
