BACKGROUND Bullous pemphigoid is the most common autoimmune blistering skin disease of the elderly. Because elderly people have low tolerance for standard regimens of oral corticosteroids, we studied whether highly potent topical corticosteroids could decrease mortality while controlling disease. METHODS A total of 341 patients with bullous pemphigoid were enrolled in a randomized, multicente...

Pemphigoid and pemphigus vulgaris (PV) are autoimmune diseases that cause potentially debilitating erosions and blistering of the skin and/or mucous membranes. In bullous pemphigoid (BP), autoantibodies target components of the basement membrane zone (BMZ), most importantly the hemidesmosomal proteins, BP180 and BP230. Research efforts have uncovered some of the complex mechanisms that cause th...

La pemphigoïde gestationis est une dermatose gravidique apparaissant en général entre la 28 et la 32 semaine d’aménorrhée. L’éruption cutanée est prurigineuse, bulleuse ou vésiculopapuleuse et de topographie péri-ombilicale. Outre la clinique, son diagnostic repose sur la biopsie cutanée avec analyse en immunofluorescence directe. Elle se caractérise par sa tendance à récidiver. Le traitement h...

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a common pemphigoid disorder, which is localized in approximately 16-29% of cases. A small subset of localized BP cases is associated with prior radiation therapy, most commonly for breast carcinoma. We present a patient with an unusual presentation of localized BP after receiving partial accelerated breast irradiation (a type of brachytherapy that has a decreased amo...

Fractions of IgG from sera of patients with pemphigoid and pemphigus added to monolayer cultures of mouse epidermal cells resulted in a sparse distribution of cells. Direct immunofluorescence studies of these monolayers revealed epidermal cell surface antigens reacting with pemphigoid and pemphigus antibodies. We suggest that these antibodies may bind to epidermal cell surface antigenic molecul...

Dear Editor, Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering skin condition. It is characterised by the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies specifi c for the hemidesmosomal BP antigens BP230 (BPAg1) and BP 180 (BPAg2). Unlike pemphigus, it is not traditionally recognised as a paraneoplastic phenomenon. As BP becomes increasingly prevalent in our ageing population,...

Mucous membrane pemphigoid is a chronic inflammatory, bullous subepithelial auto-immune disease, with predominant involvement of the mucosal surfaces. Oral mucous membrane pemphigoid occurring in childhood is extremely rare. We describe a new case of this entity occurring in a 4-year-old girl who presented with desquamative gingivitis. Diagnosis was based on clinical presentation, histopatholog...

PURPOSE To understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for the easy removal and sloughing of corneal epithelium in vitamin A deficiency. METHODS An animal model of vitamin A deficiency, the vitamin A-deficient rat (A-rat), transmission electron microscopy, computer-assisted morphometric analysis and indirect immunofluorescence were used to study the adhesion of rat corneal epithelium to ...

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease seen primarily in elderly persons. It is characterized clinically by the development of tense bullae and by the presence of an antibasement membrane antibody. In BP, the antigens involved in the autoimmunity are epidermal basement membrane peptides BPAg1 and BPAg2. We have compared high resolution typing of major histocomp...

Background Autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBD) are rare disorders characterized by autoantibody formation against components of adhesion molecules; in pemphigoid (PD), these proteins hemidesmosomes and basement membrane, important for cell-matrix skin and/or mucous membranes. Incidences vary considerably between different populations. Objectives To establish a registry prospectively recruiting a...