AIM OF STUDY To study the efficacy of tetracycline (or doxycycline) and nicotinamide in the treatment of less extensive bullous pemphigoid. METHODS An open trial of 11 patients with bullous pemphigoid. Treatment was initiated with tetracycline 1.5-2 g/day and nicotinamide 1.5-2 g/day and gradually tapered down. Doxycycline was substituted for tetracycline in patients who could not tolerate te...

Bullous pemphigoid is the most common autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. This disease typically affects the elderly and presents with itch and localized or generalized bullous lesions. In up to 20% of affected patients, bullae may be completely absent, and only excoriations, prurigo-like lesions, eczematous lesions, urticated lesions and/or infiltrated ...

BP: bullous pemphigoid DIF: direct immunofluorescence TNF-a: tumor necrosis factorealpha INTRODUCTION Up to 20% of cases of bullous pemphigoid (BP) show an atypical presentation, exhibiting localized distribution or non-bullous lesions, such as eczematous, urticarial, prurigolike, and erythema multiformelike papules and plaques. These atypical presentations can be associated with a delay in dia...

Bullous pemphigoid is a blistering autoimmune disease characterized by two hemidesmosomal proteins (anti-BP180 and 230). Pemphigus, by contrast, is characterized by two autoantibodies (anti-desmoglein 1 and 3). Coexistence of autoantibodies of bullous pemphigoid and pemphigus in a patient is rare. A 25-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital, reporting a 3-month history of multiple p...

Pemphigus vulgaris and mucous membrane pemphigoid are uncommon dermatological disorders which also involves the mucosae of the oral cavity. Both the conditions differ in microscopy and prognosis. Thus the aim of the present paper is to present one case each of pemphigus vulgaris and mucous membrane pemphigoid with oral involvement. Special attention has been made on the clinical tests to evalua...

BACKGROUND Post-vaccination infantile bullous pemphigod is a rare presentation. CASE CHARACTERISTICS A 2-month-old girl presented with widespread bullae, erosions, necrotic and targetoid lesions over body and mucosae after vaccination. Histology and direct immunofluorescence (DIF) were consistent with bullous pemphigoid. INTERVENTION Clinical remission with oral steroids and no recurrence w...

Recently, the C-terminus of laminin γ1 has been identified as target antigen in anti-p200 pemphigoid and the disease was renamed as anti-laminin γ1 pemphigoid. However, the pathogenic relevance of these autoantibodies has not yet been demonstrated. Therefore, we employed an ex vivo model of autoantibody-mediated leukocyte-dependent neutrophil activation and dermal-epidermal separation (DES) usi...

Cytokines are important regulators of immune and inflammatory reactions in the skin, and may contribute to inflammatory blister induction. We examined the profiles of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in fluid of spontaneous blisters in the immune-based inflammatory disorders bullous pemphigoid (8 patients), allergic contact dermatitis (5 patients) and toxic epid...