Pemphigus is an autoimmune disease characterised by anti-desmoglein (Dsg) antibodies in the serum of patients. The disease can be divided into pemphigus foliaceus and pemphigus vulgaris. Anti-Dsg1 antibody is generally related to pemphigus with cutaneous lesion, and the anti-Dsg3 antibody is related to pemphigus with mucosa lesion. Twenty-nine patients with pemphigus vulgaris were selected in t...

Pemphigus is a group of rare and potentially fatal autoimmune blistering diseases that are associated with auto-antibodies that target intercellular adhesion molecules. Incidence of pemphigus varies among populations, with the lowest incidence in Switzerland and Finland at 0.6-0.76 per million per year and the highest in Jewish communities at 16.1-32 per million per year. Pemphigus is associate...

Background: In addition to humoral immunity associated with anti-desmoglein antibodies, cellular immunity and mediators including cytokines are involved in the pathogenesis of pemphigus vulgaris. In this study we evaluated the level of IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-10 in the sera of patients with pemphigus vulgaris before and after treatment.Methods: A total number of 71 new patients with pe...

Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune disease, in which the role of Th17 cytokines needs to be further explored. This study was performed to assess serum levels of three interleukins (IL) required for Th17 differentiation (IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-23) and two specific Th17 cytokines (IL-17 and IL-22) in a group of patients with pemphigus vulgaris, at baseline, 3 weeks and 6 months after treatment. Corr...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus is a group of autoimmune blistering diseases of the skin and mucous membranes caused by the presence of antibodies against adhesion molecules on the cell surface of keratinocytes. The possible role of herpes simplex virus infection in the pathogenesis of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) has been suggested. In this study, we evaluated the impact of a course of acyclovir in improvemen...

At present, there is no consensus about the clinical criteria that define disease severity of pemphigus. During recent years several scoring systems have been introduced which mainly compare inter-individual differences in disease activity. It thus remains a challenge to reflect the disease activity of individual patients by a standardised scoring system. Due to the remarkable clinical variabil...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus is part of a group of blistering diseases that affect the skin and mucous membranes. Based on its autoimmune origin, autoantibodies develop in pemphigus that are directed toward cell surface components of keratinocytes. However, some data cannot be explained, such as the lack of a relationship between autoantibody levels and the severity of clinical manifestations, treatmen...

BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence that a single cycle of rituximab (375 mg per square meter [corrected] of body surface area once weekly for 4 weeks) is efficacious in patients with severe pemphigus. The approved protocol in rheumatoid arthritis is 1 g on days 1 and 15. We report herein on the efficacy and safety of this latter protocol for rituximab in 9 patients with pemphigus. OBSERV...