Immunohistological analysis performed on human skin biopsies covering various pathogeneses revealed ZEB2 expression in the epidermis of pemphigus vulgaris.
Collectively, our findings suggest a novel role for Dsg3 as an anti-stress protein, via suppression of p53 function, and this pathway is disrupted in PV.
We engineered human T cells to express a chimeric autoantibody receptor (CAAR), consisting of the PV autoantigen, desmoglein (Dsg) 3, fused to CD137-CD3ζ signaling domains.
The IL-6 -174 CC genotype represents a marker of increased susceptibility to pemphigus in Egyptian patients and GG genotype can be considered a low-risk genotype; TNF-α -308 A-containing genotypes contribute to the susceptibility to PV only.
A combination of anti-interleukin-1alpha and anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha antibodies inhibited in vitro pemphigus vulgaris IgG induced acantholysis.
TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms in position -238 and -308 were identified using a modified polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method in 53 patients with pemphigus (38 with pemphigus vulgaris, 15 with pemphigus foliaceus) and 87 healthy controls.
The aim of our case-control study was to investigate whether some of 22 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 13 cytokine genes (IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-1RI, IL-1Ra, IL-4Ralpha, IL-12, IFN-gamma, TGF-beta1, TNF-alpha, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10) are associated with pemphigus vulgaris in the Slovak population.
Two PVTAP2 risk alleles were identified (TAP2*C and TAP2*D), the frequency of which was estimated to be 37.8% in the patients and 5.3 % in the controls.
A fine-mapping analysis of PV risk in the major histocompatibility complex region showed three independent variants predisposed to PV using stepwise analysis: HLA-DRB1*14:04 (P = 2.47 × 10<sup>-38</sup>, odds ratio = 6.28), rs7454108 at the TAP2 gene (P = 2.78 × 10<sup>-12</sup>, odds ratio = 3.25), and rs1051336 at the HLA-DRA gene (P = 3.06 × 10<sup>-6</sup>, odds ratio = 0.33).
Among the large number of studied SNPs, it was found that several SNPs in different genes might control the susceptibility of PV, including TNFA (rs361525, rs1800629, rs1800629), IL10 (rs1800871, rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872), IL6 (rs1800795), CTLA4 (rs231775), ICOS (rs10932029), CD86 (rs1129055), DSG3 (rs8085532, rs3911655, rs3848485, rs3794925, rs1466379), ST18 (rs2304365, rs17315309) and TAP2 (rs7454108), probably in a population-specific manner.
Topical hydrocortisone, rapamycin, or Stat3 inhibitor XVIII prevents autoantibody-induced blistering in the PV passive transfer mouse model, correlating with increased epidermal DSG3 expression and decreased phospho-S727 Stat3.
Among the large number of studied SNPs, it was found that several SNPs in different genes might control the susceptibility of PV, including TNFA (rs361525, rs1800629, rs1800629), IL10 (rs1800871, rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872), IL6 (rs1800795), CTLA4 (rs231775), ICOS (rs10932029), CD86 (rs1129055), DSG3 (rs8085532, rs3911655, rs3848485, rs3794925, rs1466379), ST18 (rs2304365, rs17315309) and TAP2 (rs7454108), probably in a population-specific manner.
High-resolution melting analysis to screen the ST18 gene functional risk variant for pemphigus vulgaris: The occasion to open a debate on its usefulness in clinical setting.
Thus, the present findings indicate that ST18 may play a direct role in PV and consequently represents a potential target for the treatment of this disease.
Further supporting the relevance of ST18 to PV, we found this gene to be overexpressed in the skin of PV patients as compared with healthy individuals.
Furthermore, production of IL-1α and IL-6 was enhanced in some experiments but not in others whereas release of TNF-α dropped significantly upon PV-IgG application in both EV- and ST18-transfected HaCaT cells.
Molecular typing of 57 French patients suffering from PV (37) and from PF (20) confirmed previous results concerning PV and showed that DRB1*0102 and 0404 are susceptible molecules to PF in France.