The sequence of development of the components of the corneal adhesion complex (hemidesmosomes, basal lamina and anchoring fibrils) was studied in rabbit and human fetal corneas using electron microscopy and histochemical localization of type VII (anchoring fibril) collagen. In the rabbit, basal lamina was present at 15 days gestation, followed by hemidesmosomes (HDs) and anchoring fibrils (AFs)...

SIR, Epidermolysisbullosaacquisita (EBA) is an acquired auto-immune bullous disease of the skin and mucous membranes characterized by IgG autoantibodies to type VII collagen, the main constituent of the anchoring fibrils of the dermal– epidermal juction. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) may be associated with autoimmunity to type VII collagen. Erythema gyratumrepens (EGR), an obligate paraneop...

The Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) comprises a heterogenous group of nine hereditary connective tissue disorders, characterized by hyperelasticity of skin and hypermobility of joints to differing extents. The skin is easily injured and wound healing is delayed. The majority of EDS patients belong to EDS-types I-III. The pathogenesis in these cases is not known, although recent data suggest a role...

PURPOSE To assay for the presence of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in human corneal epithelium affected by recurrent erosion compared with that in normal corneal epithelium. METHODS Corneal epithelial debridement samples were obtained from 13 patients with recurrent epithelial erosion. For control specimens, epithelia were obtained from healthy patients undergoing photorefractive keratecto...

Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease of mucous membranes and the skin caused by autoantibodies against collagen VII. In silico and wet laboratory epitope mapping studies revealed numerous distinct epitopes recognized by EBA patients' autoantibodies within the non-collagenous (NC)1 and NC2 domains of collagen VII. However, the distribution of pat...

background: micropatterning is becoming a powerful tool for studying cells in vitro. this method not only uses very small amount of material but also mimic the microenvironment structure present in living tissues better than flask culturing techniques. in previous studies using micropatterning of extracellular matrix proteins on glass surfaces, the rate of protein detachment from the surface wa...

Dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) is a severe skin fragility disorder associated with trauma-induced blistering, progressive soft tissue scarring, and increased risk of skin cancer. DEB is caused by mutations in the COL7A1 gene which result in reduced, truncated, or absent type VII collagen, and anchoring fibrils at the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ). Because no topical wound-healing agen...