Antibodies against keratinocyte antigens other than desmogleins 1 and 3 can induce pemphigus vulgaris-like lesions.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2000
Keywords
Animal, Animals-Newborn, Autoantibodies, Baculoviridae, Blister, Cadherins, Chimeric-Proteins, Gene-Deletion, Histocytochemistry, Human, IgG, Immunization-Passive, Keratinocytes, Mice, Mice-Knockout, Pemphigus, Phenotype, Skin, SUPPORT-NON-U-S-GOVT, SUPPORT-U-S-GOVT-P-H-S
First Page
1467
Last Page
1479
JAX Source
J Clin Invest 2000 Dec; 106(12):1467-79.
Grant
CA20408/CA/NCI
Abstract
Pemphigus is an autoimmune disease of skin adhesion associated with autoantibodies against a number of keratinocyte antigens, such as the adhesion molecules desmoglein (Dsg) 1 and 3 and acetylcholine receptors. The notion that anti-Dsg antibodies alone are responsible for blisters in patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) stems from the ability of rDsg1 and rDsg3 to absorb antibodies that cause PV-like skin blisters in neonatal mice. Here, we demonstrate that PV IgGs eluted from rDsg1-Ig-His and rDsg3-Ig-His show similar antigenic profiles, including the 38-, 43-, 115-, and 190-kDa keratinocyte proteins and a non-Dsg 3 130-kDa polypeptide present in keratinocytes from Dsg 3 knockout mouse. We injected into Dsg 3-lacking mice the PV IgGs that did not cross-react with the 160-kDa Dsg 1 or its 45-kDa immunoreactive fragment and that showed no reactivity with recombinant Dsg 1. We used both the Dsg3(null) mice with a targeted mutation of the Dsg3 gene and the "balding" Dsg3(bal)/Dsg3(bal) mice that carry a spontaneous null mutation in Dsg3. These PV IgGs caused gross skin blisters with PV-like suprabasal acantholysis and stained perilesional epidermis in a fishnet-like pattern, indicating that the PV phenotype can be induced without anti-Dsg 3 antibody. The anti-Dsg 1 antibody also was not required, as its presence in PV IgG does not alter the PV-like phenotype in skin organ cultures and because pemphigus foliaceus IgGs produce a distinct phenotype in Dsg3(null) mice. Therefore, mucocutaneous lesions in PV patients could be caused by non-Dsg antibodies.
Recommended Citation
Nguyen VT,
Ndoye A,
Shultz LD,
Pittelkow MR,
Grando SA.
Antibodies against keratinocyte antigens other than desmogleins 1 and 3 can induce pemphigus vulgaris-like lesions. J Clin Invest 2000 Dec; 106(12):1467-79.