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. 2020 Dec 21;21(24):9769. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249769

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© 2020 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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TLR7 inhibits melanogenesis and induces melanocyte apoptosis. TLR7 stimulation induces pigment loss due to two factors: decrease in the expression of melanin synthesis-related genes and the induction of apoptosis. TLR7 stimulation suppresses the expression of MITF and TYR. The decrease in MITF suppresses Bcl-2 expression in melanocytes. Bcl-2 is localized in mitochondria and has an anti-apoptotic function. Therefore, the decrease in MITF leads to apoptosis through caspase activation by Bcl-2 suppression. Abbreviations: TLR: toll-like receptor; MITF: microphthalmia-associated transcription factor; TYR: tyrosinase.