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...

Bowen’s disease (BD) is a non-melanoma skin cancer with several histological subtypes. Herein we describe a case of a 35-year-old woman with a 4-cm diameter crusted plaque on the parietal scalp region. She had the lesion for 2 years. It had previously been histologically diagnosed as pemphigus vulgaris and only treated with a topical cream. The lesion progressively became thicker and larger. A ...