Study of desmoglein 1 and 3 antibody levels in relation to disease severity in Indian patients with pemphigus.
OBJECTIVE
To conduct a cross-sectional study to compare Dsg1 and Dsg3 antibody levels independently with severity of disease activity in pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF).


METHODS
Blood samples from 44 patients with pemphigus (PV-38, PF-6) were analyzed using ELISA. The severity of skin and mucosal disease was graded using a score from 0 to 3.


RESULTS
A statistically significant correlation between increase in Dsg 3 antibody titres with severity of oral involvement and Dsg 1 titres with severity of skin involvement was found in both PV and PF patients (p < 0.01). However, we were unable to demonstrate a relationship between increased titres of Dsg1 and Dsg 3 antibodies with oral and skin involvement respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that the severity of skin and oral disease in pemphigus is determined by the quantities of Dsg1 and Dsg3 antibodies respectively.
Kumar
Bhushan
B
Department of Dermatology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. kumarbhushan@hotmail.com
Arora
Sunil
S
Kumaran
Muthu Sendhil
MS
Jain
Rajesh
R
Dogra
Sunil
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D051183:Desmoglein 1 / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D051184:Desmoglein 3 / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D010392:Pemphigus / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology
D000906:Antibodies; D051183:Desmoglein 1; D051184:Desmoglein 3