Vitiligo is a result of convoluted interactions of biological, environmental and immunological events; hence, a single concept cannot be attributable to all the conditions of functional melanocyte loss. Recent advances in genetic studies have led to the considerable progress in defining the genetic epidemiology and pathogenesis of vitiligo. Intense studies and characterization of miRNAs have elucidated their interpretative functions in growth and development, in the transformation of cellular responses to extracellular signals facilitating signal transduction. Having a cardinal role in maintaining physiological homeostasis and disease development, miRNAs are significant for melanocyte development and survival as well. Most of the vitiligo associated genes are plausible biological candidate genes that are responsible for stimulating melanocyte-specific immune response thus, mediating vitiligo pathogenesis. Unraveling the miRNAs and genetic variants that influence disease development may provide key insights into the rationale for vitiligo susceptibility.


The VitmiRS database therefore aims to provide a comprehensive, user-friendly interface to detailed information on each miRNA and SNP association that renders susceptibility to vitiligo which would be of benefit to the scientific community. We have, thus, manually curated all miRNAs and SNPs reported to be associated with vitiligo in the human genome and established a database that stores information about the target genes of the respective miRNAs as well. The database currently houses 41 miRNAs along with their target genes, and 134 associated SNPs for 84 genes supported with pertinent data. VitmiRS is the first attempt at providing information pertaining to vitiligo associated miRNAs and SNPs under a single platform thus contributing to the uniqueness of the database.