To the Editor: Pemphigus foliaceus (PF) is a chronic autoimmune blistering disease caused by pathogenic serum autoantibodies against desmoglein 1. Initial treatments for PF include systemic corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and dapsone.1 Rituximab, chimeric monoclonal antibody specific to CD20 molecule on B cells, was shown be effective severe refractory cases of pemphigus in meta-analysis.2...

Pemphigus is a group of human autoimmune blistering diseases of the skin in which autoantibodies to desmosome cadherins induce loss of cell-cell adhesion (acantholysis). In addition to steric hindrance and activation of intracellular signaling, apoptosis has been suggested to contribute to the mechanism by which pathogenic IgG induces acantholysis. We review the current literature examining the...

A case of pemphigus triggered by glibenclamide and cilazapril is described. The suspicion of drug induction was confirmed in a laboratory study in which a pemphigus-like effect was induced by glibenclamide in cultured human skin explants. Withdrawal of the drugs and their replacement by hydrochlorothiazide and metformin resulted in subsidence of the lesions and no appearance of new lesions. The...

Systemic corticosteroids are the treatment of choice for pemphigus vulgaris. Immunosuppressive agent (azathioprine, cyclophosphamide) could be added for patients with severe disease that cannot be controlled by corticosteroids alone or to reduce the dose of corticosteroids.[5] However, immunosuppressants continue to have the complications of systemic infections. Successful use of rituximab ther...

Dermatologic disorders frequently parallel with oral involvement which dental practitioners should be familiar with. In continuation with part II, the immunofluorescence patterns in the intraepidermal pemphigus group and its variants: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP) are dealt in this section. Also, a brief note is added on other mucocutaneous disorders showing similar...

Pemphigus is a life-threatening autoimmune blistering disease. Systemic corticosteroids have been the mainstay and first-line treatment with success. However, longterm use of corticosteroids results in significant morbidities and mortalities. Much effort has been focused on searching alternative or corticosteroids-sparing agents. Rituximab (MabTheraTM; Roche, Basle, Switzerland), a chimeric ant...

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...

The male genitalia of Lutzomyia (Lutzomyia) renei (Martins, Falcão & Silva, 1957) have four bristles, three fine and one semi-foliaceous, inserted basomesally on the gonocoxite. Nonetheless, in the original description and in other taxonomic studies, these bristles have been illustrated and described in varying formats. In order to clarify the morphology of this species, both sexes are here red...

OBJECTIVE (1) To investigate the incidence of laryngeal involvement in a large series of patients with pemphigus vulgaris, using endoscopic examination, (2) to describe the lesions, and (3) to establish a classification of laryngeal involvement in pemphigus vulgaris based on the location of the lesions. STUDY DESIGN Prospective study. METHODS A total of 40 sequentially treated pemphigus vul...

Molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of pemphigus vulgaris are still not clear. We aimed to determine the significance of detecting expression of some antigens that might be pivotal to the process, namely CD44 and CD117, in patients with active pemphigus vulgaris. Seventeen patients with active pemphigus vulgaris and 19 normal healthy controls were included in the study. The immu...