Table 1.

Table comparing the advantages and disadvantages of translational tools available to study vitiligo.

Translational tools to study vitiligo
Technique		Advantages	Limitations
Tissue acquision methods	Punch Biopsy	Maintains architecture; used for histology, IHC, IF, obtaining cells for cell culture	Can cause pain; scarring of a sample site; requires anesthesia and sutures or gelfoam
	Shave Biopsy	Maintains architecture; used for histology, IHC, IF. obtaining cells for cell culture	Can cause pain; scarring of a sample site; requires anesthesia
	Suction Blister	Less invasive; not painful; non- scarring; collects more cells than conventional biopsies; provides interstitial skin fluid for analysis of soluble molecules	Samples epidermis and upper dermis; missing deeper, structural cells
Assay methods	Flow cytometry	Identification and characterization of single cell protein expression	Dependent on availability and quality of antibodies; limited number of proteins can be analyzed; lacks spatial information
	Histology/ Immunohistochemistry/ Immunofluorescence	Identifies immune infiltration and protein expression with spacial information is maintained	Requires optimization of staining and imaging; dependent on availability and quality of antibodies; limited number of proteins can be analyzed; less quantifiable than single-cell methods
	Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq)	Determine epigenetic changes between disease states	Epigenetic changes do not always lead to protein expression; lacks spatial information; expensive
	Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)	Identification and characterization of single cell transcripts; does not require prior knowledge of genes of interest; no antibody optimization	Not all transcript changes reflect protein expression; lacks spatial information; expensive
	Metabolomics	Understand changes in metabolic processes between disease states	Unable to identify which cells are producing which metabolites
	Spatial mass spectrometry imaging	Identify which cell types are producing which proteins and metabolites with spatial resolution	Not as quantitative as standard metabolomics
	Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)	Identify and measure soluble proteins	Does not identify which cell types produce which proteins
	Slide-seq/ RNA seqFISH+	Transcriptomics with spatial information	Fewer targets can be analyzed
	2D cell culture	Can characterize primary cells, including cell-cell interactions through co-culture	Missing physiologically relevent conditions, including 3D interactions, air-tissue interface
	3D cell culture	Modeling of 3D skin envirionment and cellular interactions; may be useful for modeling autoimmune cell-cell interactions	More complex methods; does not involve all cell interactions
	Animal models	Models in vivo disease; parallels to human disease; useful for complex cellular interactions and mechanistic studies	Costly to maintain; can be complex methods; some human pathways not present in animal models