Correlation of conventional and conformational anti-desmoglein antibodies with phenotypes and disease activities in patients with pemphigus vulgaris.

Pemphigus is an autoimmune disease characterised by anti-desmoglein (Dsg) antibodies in the serum of patients. The disease can be divided into pemphigus foliaceus and pemphigus vulgaris. Anti-Dsg1 antibody is generally related to pemphigus with cutaneous lesion, and the anti-Dsg3 antibody is related to pemphigus with mucosa lesion. Twenty-nine patients with pemphigus vulgaris were selected in the clinical study. The severity of the cutaneous and mucosa lesions of these patients was evaluated using Pemphigus disease area index (PDAI). Conventional and conformational anti-Dsg index values were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-treated ELISA. The relationship between clinical phenotypes and immunological profiles was analysed. In the correlation analysis, both the conventional and conformational anti-Dsg1 ELISA index values were correlated with the total and cutaneous PDAIs. In addition, conformational anti-Dsg3 ELISA index values exhibited a positive correlation with cutaneous PDAI in both types of pemphigus vulgaris, whereas no correlation was observed for the conventional anti-Dsg3 ELISA index values.