A variety of clinical and histological presentations can accompany the evolution of malignant melanoma. Unusual cytological variants of malignant melanoma include balloon cell, signet ring cell, myxoid and other metaplastic changes. With the exception of a case of pemphigus-like changes associated with malignant melanoma in paraneoplastic pemphigus, acantholysis is not a common histopathologica...

Pemphigus foliaceus is a rare, superficial form of pemphigus. Due to acantholysis localised in the stratum corneum or within the upper spinous layer of the epidermis, patients suffer mainly from extensive sores, while blisters are rarely found. The antigen in this form of pemphigus is desmoglein 1. The basic therapy consists of corticosteroids and immunosuppression, but in doses lower than in c...

Pemphigus (from the Greek pemphix, meaning bubble or blister) is a blistering disease involving the skin and mucous membrane. The disease is characterized histologically by acantholysis which means loss of adhesion between keratinocytes, and immuno-pathologically by the presence of immunoglobulin directed towards the cell surface of kerat inocytes . 1 The landmark ar t ic le in the understandin...

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune disease characterized by blistering and erosions on skin and mucous membranes due to acantholysis. It is caused by autoantibodies against desmosomal caderins desmoglein 3 (Dsg 3) which are calcium dependent cell adhesion molecules. The measurement of Dsg 3-ELISA had been shown to be a sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of PV in addition to the...

Autoimmune diseases affect more than 50 million Americans, resulting in significant healthcare costs. Most autoimmune diseases occur sporadically; however, endemic pemphigus foliaceus (EPF) is an autoimmune skin disease localized to specific geographic loci. EPF, and the related diseases pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF), are characterized by skin lesions and autoantibodies t...