INTRODUCTION Pemphigus vulgaris is a relatively rare, chronic, autoimmune vesiculobullous disorder characterized by formation of intraepithelial vesiculae and/or bullae in the skin and mucous membrane. Systemic steroids are considered to be the standard first-line therapy for pemphigus vulgaris. However, for patients unresponsive to standard therapy, the new treatment modalities are being sough...

Pemphigus is a group of autoimmune blistering diseases. There had been abundant evidence that antibodies against components within the desmosomes were responsible for its pathogenesis. The major antigens in pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus are desmoglein 3 (130 kDa) and desmoglein 1 (160 kDa) respectively. They are glycoproteins belonging to the cadherin family and form part of the tr...

BACKGROUND Pemphigusis a bullous, rare and chronic autoimmune disease. There are two major forms of pemphigus: vulgaris and foliaceus. Epidemiological data and clinical outcome in patients diagnosed in the Brazilian Amazon states are still rare. OBJECTIVES To study the occurrence of the disease during the study period and analyze the epidemiological profile of patients, the most common subtyp...

Anti-desmoglein 3 and 1 autoantibodies are involved in the pathogenesis of pemphigus diseases. Our objective was to assess the value of ELISA in the diagnosis of pemphigus and its correlation with the severity of pemphigus vulgaris. Based on clinical presentation and histopathologic confirmation for the diagnosis of the pemphigus, 38 patients took part in the study. Sera of the patients were te...

Paraneoplastic pemphigus is a rare autoimmune skin disease that is always associated with a neoplasm. Usually, oral, skin, and mucosal lesions are the earliest manifestations shown by paraneoplastic pemphigus patients. The pathogenesis of paraneoplastic pemphigus is not yet completely understood, although some immunological aspects have been recently clarified. Because of its rarity, several di...

Pemphigus is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder of the skin. Nitric oxide (NO) is an inflammatory mediator linked to a variety of physiological and pathophysiological phenomena that include skin tumors, psoriasis, urticaria, and atopic dermatitis. Inflammatory cells present in pemphigus lesions are important sources of NO production. We investigated whether NO is involved in pemphigus. A prosp...

VOLUME 97, MARCH 2016 E1 WWW.CUTIS.COM To the Editor: The term pemphigus describes a group of autoimmune blistering diseases that are histologically characterized by intraepidermal blisters caused by acantholysis. There are several types of pemphigus foliaceus, such as classic and endemic pemphigus foliaceus, pemphigus erythematosus, pemphigus herpetiformis, and drug-induced pemphigus foliaceus...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between pemphigus and osteoporosis. DESIGN Case-control study. SETTING A large health care provider organization in Israel. PARTICIPANTS Patients with pemphigus older than 20 years (hereinafter, pemphigus patients) were compared with a sample of age- and sex-matched controls. Interventions  Data retrieval from a large community-based medical databa...

In pemphigus, autoantibodies form against desmoglein. Desmoglein forms the "glue" that attaches adjacent epidermal cells via attachment points called desmosomes. When autoantibodies attack desmogleins, the cells become separated from each other and the epidermis becomes "unglued", a phenomenon called acantholysis. This causes blisters that slough off and turn into sores. In some cases, these bl...

Pemphigus vegetans is a rare variant of deep acantholytic pemphigus which usually presents with vesiculobullous rash and vegetative plaques on the folds. We report a case of pemphigus vegetans patient who presented with rashes on tips of fingers and toes resembling paronychia and onychomadesis that misled the diagnosis for months. The final diagnosis of Hallopeau-type pemphigus vegetans was mad...