Bullous pemphigoid: a prototypical antibody-mediated organ-specific autoimmune disease.
Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a prototypical organ-specific autoimmune disease. Autoantibodies unfold their blister-inducing potential by triggering an Fcgamma-dependent inflammatory reaction. The study by Iwata et al. in this issue provides the first direct evidence that IgG autoantibodies from BP patients may also weaken cell-matrix adhesion by depleting BP180/type XVII collagen from cultured keratinocytes. These novel findings shed new light on additional mechanisms of blister formation in pemphigoid diseases and open the way for further informative studies.
Sitaru
Cassian
C
Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. csitaru@fastmail.fm