The increased serum levels of malondialdehyde in patients with chronic active endemic pemphigus foliaceus and healthy subjects from endemic areas with anti-dsg1 antibodies may suggest a contribution of systemic lipid peroxidation in the pathogenesis of endemic pemphigus foliaceus.
The endemic form (fogo selvagem-FS) of pemphigus foliaceus is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of IgG autoantibodies against desmoglein-1.
By testing a large number of FS and endemic control sera by ELISA, we found a consistent and specific autoantibody response against Dsg1 and other keratinocyte cadherins in these individuals, which is quite different from healthy individuals from the United States (US controls).
Tunisian endemic pemphigus foliaceus is associated with the HLA-DR3 gene: anti-desmoglein 1 antibody-positive healthy subjects bear protective alleles.
Endemic pemphigus foliaceus (EPF) is an autoimmune bullous skin disease characterized by acantholysis and antibodies against a desmosomal protein, desmoglein 1.
Endemic pemphigus foliaceus (EPF) is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of antibodies against desmoglein 1, which lead to the loss of adhesion among keratinocytes (acantholysis).
Anti-desmoglein 1 autoantibodies were detected in all patients with FS and were absent from more than 300 serum samples collected from randomly selected unaffected persons.