Studies have shown that normal melanocytes express the same melanosome proteins (e.g., tyrosinase, MART-1, gp100, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and TRP-2, among others) as melanoma cells, which were the self-antigens inducing antitumor immune responses, while the vitiligo regions of malignant melanoma patients with immune-related vitiligo share the same infiltration of CD8+ T cell clones as patients with melanoma30,31. This evidence concerns the gene PMEL and vitiligo.