Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune epidermal blistering disease caused by autoantibodies directed against the desmosomal cadherin desmoglein-3 (Dsg3). Significant advances in our understanding of pemphigus pathomechanisms have been derived from the generation of pathogenic monoclonal Dsg3 antibodies. However, conflicting models for pemphigus pathogenicity have arisen from studies using ei...

The usual outcome of pemphigus whitout treatment is death. The introduction of corticosteroids has greatly reduced the mortality of this condition, though a significant morbidity remains. The patients who are receiving high- dose steroids together with other immunosuppressive agents are at risk and may cause death through drug side effects and opportunitic infections. The descriptive study has ...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the reactivity of indirect immunofluorescence using rat bladder epithelium as a substrate in patients with pemphigus foliaceus and pemphigus vulgaris from the Department of Dermatology, University of São Paulo Medical School, Brazil. METHODS Thirty-two patients (8 male and 24 female) from the Department of Dermatology, University of São Paulo Medical School, were select...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus is an acquired autoimmune intraepidermal blistering disease that is divided into 2 major subtypes: pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF). Patients with pemphigus have circulating anti-desmoglein (Dsg)1 and/or anti-Dsg3 IgG autoantibodies. Recently, a novel commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against Dsg1 and Dsg3 has been established and foun...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus autoantibodies have been reported in healthy relatives of pemphigus patients suggesting a genetic predisposition in the pathogenesis of the disease. AIMS To test for the presence of pemphigus autoantibodies in healthy relatives of Turkish patients of pemphigus. METHODS The study group comprised 45 pemphigus patients, 75 unaffected family members and 47 healthy individua...

From the Division of Immunodermatology, Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicagoa; the Department of Dermatology, Kurume University School of Medicineb; the Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyoc; and the Medicine Service, Section of Dermatology, Lakeside Division, Veterans Affairs Chicago Health Care System.d Supported by a Clini...

UNLABELLED What is known and objective: Pemphigus is a severe, potentially life-threatening autoimmune blistering disease. The use of corticosteroids has dramatically improved the prognosis and changed its course. However, current morbidity of pemphigus is largely iatrogenic, caused by side effects of the long-term, high-dose corticosteroid therapy that is necessary to sustain disease control. ...