title: Skin explant culture: a reliable method for detecting pemphigoid antibodies in pemphigoid sera that are negative by standard immunofluorescence and immunoblotting.
abstract: We investigated the presence of bullous pemphigoid antibodies in bullous pemphigoid sera that are negative by standard indirect immunofluorescence. We incubated each of four indirect immunofluorescence-positive bullous pemphigoid sera, seven indirect immunofluorescence-negative bullous pemphigoid sera, one indirect immunofluorescence-negative herpes gestationis serum, three indirect immunofluorescence-positive epidermolysis bullosa acquisita sera, five indirect immunofluorescence-negative epidermolysis bullosa acquisita sera, and two normal human sera with fresh human skin explants in medium 199 at 4 degrees C for 48 h. All bullous pemphigoid sera, herpes gestations serum, and the three indirect immunofluorescence-positive epidermolysis bullosa acquisita sera had IgG that bound the basement membrane zone of skin explants with moderate to marked intensity as demonstrated by immunofluorescence. Normal sera and indirect immunofluorescence-negative epidermolysis bullosa acquisita sera failed to bind the explant basement membrane zone. Immunoblotting of bullous pemphigoid sera showed five of seven indirect immunofluorescence-negative bullous pemphigoid sera to bind high-molecular weight and/or low-molecular weight bullous pemphigoid antigens from epidermal extracts. We conclude that the skin explant culture system is a very sensitive method for the detection of bullous pemphigoid antibodies in all bullous pemphigoid sera.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio 45267-0523.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Mutasim
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Supapannachart
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Farooqui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D010391:Pemphigoid, Bullous / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies