Complement-fixing pemphigus antibodies.

T Hashimoto; T Nishikawa; S Kurihara; H Hatano

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PubMed · 354535

Complement-fixing pemphigus antibodies.

T Hashimoto·T Nishikawa·S Kurihara·H Hatano

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Abstract

The serum of a patient with a typical case of pemphigus vulgaria contained complement-fixing intercellular autoantibodies (pemphigus antibodies). Complement-fixing pemphigus antibodies were demonstrated only during the untreated active stage of the disease and titrated lower than corresponding IgG autoantibodies, which paralleled well with the disease activity. Pemphigus lesional skin, which contained in-vivo-bound IgG, showed the capability of further binding C3 in vitro from normal human serum. It was suggested from these findings that the complement system may play an active role in pemphigus acantholysis through complement-fixing pemphigus antibodies.

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Acantholysis Antibodies Complement C3 Fluorescent Antibody Technique Humans Male Middle Aged Pemphigus Case Reports Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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T Hashimoto, T Nishikawa, S Kurihara, H Hatano. 1978. Complement-fixing pemphigus antibodies.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/354535/

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PubMed1997

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Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a dermatosis mediated by autoantibodies against desmoglein 3 (Dsg3). It was known that intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of PV IgG and PV F(ab')2, but not of PV Fab, into neonatal mice reproduced the key features of the disease in these animals. It was proposed that crosslinking of antigen by bivalent PV autoantibodies may trigger acantholysis in PV. In the present study, we have used subcutaneous (s.c.) injections of PV IgG and its proteolytic fragments into neonatal mice to test equimolar amounts of these autoantibody fractions. Mice developed clinical and histological features of PV in a dose-dependent manner following a similar time course. PV IgG and Fab fractions induced acantholysis as early as 2 hr after the injection. It was also demonstrated that sc injections of PV Fab were more effective in inducing disease than ip injections. PV autoantibodies may bind an "adhesive site" of Dsg3 and impair its function, thus triggering acantholysis.

Acantholysis↗

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