expression of hla-g in the skin of patients with pemphigus vulgaris

studies on hla-g, a nonpolymorphic antigen of non-classical hla class i, is of basic and clinical significance. in the present study, the expression of hla-g proteins in the human skin tissue sections of normal and autoimmune pemphigus vulgaris (pv) individuals were investigated using monoclonal antibodies. the antibodies recognized both membrane-bound and soluble isoforms of hla-g. rt-pcr was performed to assess the patterns of hla-g mrna transcripts in the epidermal cells of pv and normal subjects. hla-g expression could only be detected at transcriptional level in normal skin tissues. however cells derived from pv subjects expressed detectable hla-g molecules at both transcriptional and translational levels. in addition, the rt-pcr patterns of hla-g amplification revealed a reduction in hla-g2 and an increase in hla-g1 transcripts in epidermal cells of pv patients as compared to normal cells. these observations further support suggestions in the literature regarding the role of hla-g in induction of tolerance in autoimmune individuals.