Pemphigus is a rare and debilitating autoimmune blistering disease due to keratinocyte cell-cell detachment (acantholysis). Treatments focus on immune suppression but are often associated with severe side effects, slow onset of action frequent clinical relapses; therefore, innovative non-immunosuppressive therapies needed provide rapid, safer long-lasting responses. Patients’ autoantibodies (PV...

BACKGROUND Focal acantholytic dyskeratosis has been described as an incidental finding and as a clinically distinct lesion. In both situations, a dimorphic histologic pattern is observed: acantholysis and dyskeratosis. Solitary, non-genital lesions displaying such pathology have been difficult to classify. Clinical and pathological characteristics of acantholytic dyskeratotic acanthomas are des...

Pemphigus foliaceus (PF) represents an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by the disruption of epidermal intercellular adhesion proteins. Clinical findings include superficial crusted erosions in a seborrheic distribution; however, the disease can rarely present as an exfoliative erythroderma. Histopathologic findings include acantholysis with cleavage within the granular layer. Direct...

This article describes 31 examples of acantholytic acanthoma, a newly recognized, solitary, benign cutaneous tumor. Acantholytic acanthoma was typically an asymptomatic, keratotic papule or nodule. Patients ranged in age from 32 to 87 years (median 60 years); the ratio of men to women was 2:1; the most frequent clinical diagnosis was keratosis; and half of the growths were on the trunk of the b...

Autoimmune blistering diseases (pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus foliaceus, bullous pemphigoid, dermatitis herpetiformis) and certain genodermatoses with acantholysis (Darier-disease, Hailey-Hailey disease) have different aetiological factors, but all result in bulla formation and/or in acantholysis. Cadherins are Ca++-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecules which play an important role in the cell...

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is associated with autoantibodies against desmoglein (Dsg), including Dsg1 and Dsg3. However, the precise mechanism by which acantholysis occurs in response to PV-IgG effect of tacrolimus for PV remains unclear.

We report a case of a 35-year-old female with a persistent pruritic acantholytic and dyskeratotic eruption on the chest and vulva. The light and electron microscopic studies showed suprabasal epidermal clefting with acantholysis and dyskeratotic cells. We suggest that the most appropriate term for this case is that of benign persistent papular acantholytic and dyskeratotic eruption.

The mechanism of pemphigus acantholysis has been studied with an in vitro system. Freshly prepared human skin epidermal cells were incubated in F-10 medium which contained the immunoglobulin G fraction from either pemphigus serum or normal human serum. During 18-h incubation periods, the pemphigus antibody became bound to the surface of the epidermal cells, caused the destruction of 75% of the ...