Journal of Dermatology and Dermatologic Diseases

The Novel Therapy for Vitiligo Vulgaris: Topical Use of Cosmetic Cream of Platinum Nanoparticles and Palladium Nanoparticles Which Show Strong Catalase-like Activity

Abstract

Takakazu Shibata, Ryouichi Yoshikawa and Masamistu Ichihashi

Background: Vitiligo is an acquired skin disease characterized by loss of melanin pigment due to disappearance of functional melanocytes. Several treatments are recommended worldwide, but none is really effective. Topical use of materials having high catalase activity is suggested to be effective to regain melanin pigment in the vitiligo skin. Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of topical use of PAPLAL which has extremely high activity of catalase in the treatment of vitiligo vulgaris subjects. Methods and Patients: 58 patients with vitiligo vulgaris who suffered more than 10% skin area and were refractory to the conventional therapies during the last one year or more. PAPLAL cream containing platinum (Pt, 139 μM) and palladium (Pd, 40 μM) nanoparticles, or PAPLAL lotion (Pt:5 μM, Pd:7 μM) was topically applied two times a day at the depigmented skin, mainly face and the back side of the hands and fingers which are well recognized as the sites resistant to the common therapies, or PAPLAL water (PT:1.03 mM, Pd:2.82 mM) was orally administered once a day. Therapeutic efficacy was evaluated by a dermatologist when the patients visited to the clinic mostly at every two weeks or every one month. Repigmentation effect was evaluated using photographs taken before and after the treatments of the selected vitiligo areas, face, the back of the hands or trunk by a single dermatologist. The treatment response was evaluated as follows; excellent: more than 50%, good: >10%, <50%, moderate: >5%, <10%, poor to none: less than 5%. We regarded the cases responded more than 10% repigmentaton after PAPLAL treatment as effective. The time points of evaluation were not fixed, but carried out at 2, 4, 8 weeks, and 3, 6 and 12 months after the initiation of the treatment. Results: PAPLAL cream was the most effective, as 58% patients had more than 10% repigmentation, compared to 35.2% and 11.1% of PAPLAL lotion and water, respectively. Two patients treated with PAPLAL cream exhibited erythema around 8 weeks after the intiation of the treatment. Conclusions: Our results have shown that PAPLAL cream and lotion may be the effective topical agents to treat vitiligo patients, since it showed a high efficacy of repigmentation of vitiligo cases who had not responded to the conventional modalities including excimer radiation therapy.