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Vitiligo
A JLA Priority Setting Partnership

The JLA is a partner in a new independent research project that is being supported through a programme grant funded by the National Institute for Health Research. The project is called Setting Priorities and Reducing Uncertainties for People with Skin Disease, or SPRUSD for short. It is being co-ordinated by the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology in Nottingham. The Centre incorporates the NLH Skin Disorders Specialist Library, the Cochrane Skin Group and the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network (UKDCTN).

The project is ambitious, with several streams of work, including eczema and vitiligo, and will last 5 years. As part of the project, the Vitiligo Society and its members identified areas of uncertainty about treating this common skin disorder, in which patches of skin lose their colour. The JLA facilitated a priority setting process that included people with vitiligo and their parents and carers, health professionals and researchers, to agree a top ten list of research questions.

The final priority setting meeting was held in March 2010, where the top 10 vitiligo treatment uncertainties were agreed as follows:

1. How effective are systemic immunosuppressants in treating vitiligo?

2. How much do psychological interventions help people with vitiligo?

3. Which treatment is more effective for vitiligo: light therapy or calcineurin inhibitors?

4. How effective is ultraviolet B therapy when combined with creams or ointments in treating vitiligo?

5. What role might gene therapy play in the treatment of vitiligo?

6. How effective are hormones or hormone-related substances that stimulate pigment cells (melanocyte-stimulating hormone analogues, afamelanotide) in treating vitiligo?

7. Which treatment is more effective for vitiligo: calcineurin inhibitors or steroid creams/ointments?

8. Which treatment is more effective for vitiligo: steroid creams/ointments or light therapy?

9. How effective is the addition of psychological interventions to patients using cosmetic camouflage for improving their quality of life?

10. How effective is pseudocatalase cream (combined with brief exposure to ultraviolet B) in treating vitiligo?

In addition, two treatment uncertainties were suggested as ‘ones to watch’, as these interventions were still in an early investigative stage.

11. How effective is piperine (black pepper) cream in treating vitiligo?

12. What role might stem cell therapy play in treating vitiligo?

For further information please contact Sally Crowe (sally@crowe-associates.co.uk)

Reports and Articles related to the progress of the Vitiligo Priority Setting Partnership:

V. Eleftheriadou, et al. (2011). Future research into the treatment of vitiligo: where should our priorities lie? Results of the vitiligo priority setting partnership. British Journal of Dermatology. Volume 164, Issue 3, pages 530-536, March 2011

Eleftheriadou V, Whitton M (2011). Top ten uncertainties for the treatment of Vitiligo. Dispatches (The magazine of the Vitiligo Society) number 56 March 2011. Article

Vitiligo Newsletter Feb 2011: contains an update of the progress of the research project to establish the most important unanswered questions about the treatment of vitiligo.

Future research into the treatment of vitiligo: where
should our priorities lie? Results of the vitiligo priority
setting partnership - Eleftheriadou, V et al. (2010). British Journal of Dermatology, no. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.10160.x - pre publication version. For the published version of this report click the link below:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.10160.x/full

Evaluation of the Vitiligo Priority Setting Partnership
July 2010

Setting priorities for vitiligo research - Report of the workshop held on the 25th March 2010

Dispatches - The magazine of the vitiligo society number 51 July 2009

Setting priorities and reducing uncertainties for people with skin disease (SPRUSD). Article by Clare Lushey, published in Dispatches issue 50, March 2009 (Page 14).

SPRUSD: Research priority for 2009: An opportunity for members to be involved. Article by Sally Crowe, published in Dispatches issue 49, November 2008 (Page 13).

The JLA - An important initiative in fostering good research practices in all spheres of medicine. Article by Maxine Whitton, published in Skin Care Campaign News issue 32, November 2005 (Page 9).