Pyodermatitis-pyostomatitis vegetans with circulating autoantibodies to bullous pemphigoid antigen 230.

We describe a woman from Korea with pyodermatitis-pyostomatitis vegetans associated with ulcerative colitis. On immunofluorescence examination, she demonstrated in vivo bound and circulating IgG antibasement membrane zone antibodies. The immunoelectron microscopy and immunoblot analysis showed that the antibodies reacted with the bullous pemphigoid antigen 230. We consider that the circulating autoantibodies to the bullous pemphigoid antigen 230 in this patient were an epiphenomenon, resulting from epidermal damage induced by inflammation of pyodermatitis-pyostomatitis vegetans.