title: Repeat Conjunctival Biopsy after Immunomodulatory Therapy for Ocular Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether conjunctival biopsy findings in patients with ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) persist as positive or revert to negative following treatment with immunomodulatory therapy (IMT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with biopsy-proven MMP were treated with IMT for at least 2 years before undergoing repeat conjunctival biopsy for immunofluorescence microscopy. Their records were reviewed and findings evaluated to ascertain which patients' biopsies showed antibody deposition on the conjunctival basement membrane.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following 2 years of IMT, conjunctival biopsies showed persistent antibody deposition in two patients, and were negative in four patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Conjunctival biopsies in patients with ocular MMP may show reversion to inactive disease following IMT. Post-treatment biopsy might be clinically useful as a means of evaluating the efficacy of therapy in this chronic disease.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Hartford Hospital , Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|b Connecticut Uveitis Foundation , West Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|c Department of Ophthalmology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Gaudio
authors.affiliation: c Department of Ophthalmology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA.|d Department of Pathology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA , and.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sinard
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Hartford Hospital , Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|b Connecticut Uveitis Foundation , West Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|c Department of Ophthalmology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Shield
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Hartford Hospital , Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|b Connecticut Uveitis Foundation , West Hartford , Connecticut , USA.|c Department of Ophthalmology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: e Department of Dermatology , Yale Medical School , New Haven , Connecticut , USA.
authors.forename: Brett A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001379:Azathioprine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000473:pathology*; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D056747:Immunomodulation; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010390:Pemphigoid, Benign Mucous Membrane / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid; D001379:Azathioprine
keywords: Conjunctiva; immunofluorescence; immunomodulatory therapy; mucous membrane; pemphigoid