title: Antiepiligrin (laminin 5) cicatricial pemphigoid associated with an underlying gastric carcinoma producing laminin 5.
abstract: Although bullous pemphigoid and cicatricial pemphigoid are sometimes associated with malignancy, it remains uncertain whether such an association is pathogenetically related or just a coincidence attributable to the advanced age of the patients. We report a 61-year-old patient with antiepiligrin (laminin 5) cicatricial pemphigoid (AeCP) associated with an advanced gastric carcinoma. The gastric carcinoma cells in this patient were shown to produce laminin 5 by immunofluorescence microscopy, and the patient's serum contained autoantibodies directed against laminin 5 on immunoprecipitation. Furthermore, the blistering symptoms and the titre of antibasement membrane zone antibodies coordinately changed with the resection and subsequent relapse of the gastric cancer. These observations suggest that the gastric carcinoma producing laminin 5 may have induced the production of autoantibodies to this laminin, which were pathogenic to the skin and mucous membranes in this patient. This report demonstrates a link between this autoimmune subepithelial blistering disease and malignancy. It is of interest and potential great importance to examine other cases of AeCP for such a potential association.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, 13-1 Takari-machi Kanazawa 920-8641, Japan. katu@med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taniuchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fushida
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawara
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Yancey
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takehara
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010390:Pemphigoid, Benign Mucous Membrane / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D000097794:Kalinin
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D000097794:Kalinin