Glucocorticosteroids are the first line therapy for moderate-severe flare-ups of ulcerative colitis. Despite that, up to 60% of patients do not respond adequately to steroid treatment. Previously, we reported that low IL-10 mRNA levels in intestine are associated with a poor response to glucocorticoids in active Crohn's disease. Here, we test whether IL-10 can favour the response to glucocortic...

Pemphigus is a severe autoimmune blistering disorder, in which immunoglobulin G autoantibodies are directed against desmosomal glycoproteins. The antibodies against desmogleine1 are prevalent in normal subjects living in Tunisia, that suggests the role of environment in the pathogenesis of this endemic type of pemphigus and the need for additional factors to switch from a subclinical form to a ...

During metastatic spread, locomotion mediated by extracellular matrix components of basement membranes and connective tissues has been invoked as a prerequisite to invasion. We studied the interactions of the rat bladder carcinoma cell line NBT-II with fibronectin, laminin, and collagens (types I, III, IV, and V). They all promoted cell attachment and spreading. To analyze their scatter potenti...

PURPOSE The expression of desmogleins (DSGs), which are known to be crucial for establishing and maintaining the cell-cell adhesion required for tissue integrity, has been well characterized in the epidermis and hair follicle; however, their expression in other epithelial tissues such as prostate is poorly understood. Although downregulation of classical cadherins, such as E-cadherin, has been ...

Pemphigus vulgaris antigen (PVA) is a member of the desmoglein subfamily of cadherin cell adhesion molecules. Because autoantibodies in this disease cause blisters due to loss of epidermal cell adhesion, and because desmoglein is found in the desmosome cell adhesion junction, we wanted to determine if PVA is also found in desmosomes. By immunofluorescence, PV IgG bound, in a dotted pattern, to ...