Diagnosis of Pemphigus Vulgaris by Immunoblotting of Cultured Human Keratinocyte Cell Extracts

Pemphigus vulgaris is one of the major autoimmune bullous diseases which include pemphigus vulgaris, bullous pemphigoid, epidermolysis bullosa acquisita, linear IgA dermatosis, and many more new entities. The diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris depends on clinical, histological and immunological criteria. Immunoblotting is a newly developed technique used to detect the specific antigens of these autoimmune bullous diseases. In this study, we successfully detected the anti-desmogleins autoantibodies from sera of five well-documented pemphigus vulgaris patients by using immunoblotting of cultured human keratinocyte cell extracts. Sera from four of these patients reacted with the 130 kDa desmoglein (Dsg) 3 protein band, one reacted with both 130 kDa and 160 kDa protein bands. We recommend immunoblotting should be used together with direct immunofluorescence and indirect immunofluorescence for the better diagnosis and classification of autoimmune bullous diseases.