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Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2003 June;138(3):207-18

Copyright © 2003 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Mucous membrane pemphigoid. Past, present and future

Chan L. S. ^{1, 2}

¹ Departments of Dermatology and Microbiology/Immunology University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA 2 Medicine Service VA Medical Center-West Side Division, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The past experience, the present understanding, and the future investigative opportunity regarding a putative autoimmune subepithelial blistering disease termed mucous membrane pemphigoid are discussed in this review article. The contents of this article are based on the author’s personal experience, the consensus built during the First International Consensus Meeting on Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid, and up-to-date information of peer-reviewed biomedical publications from Medline Database up to February 7th, 2003. In the past, mucous membrane pemphigoid has been termed as cicatricial pemphigoid, benign mucous membrane pemphigoid, ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, oral pemphigoid, and desquamative gingivitis. Besides the variation of nomenclature, multiple autoantigens have been associated with MMP. Furthermore, no consensus on the treatment options has been offered to the physicians. In order to streamline the present understanding of the disease, an international consensus meeting was held in 1999 to establish a consensus. Based on the consensus meeting, specific consensus-based recommendations have been made in 2002 regarding the definition, diagnostic criteria, pathogenic factors, medical treatment, and prognostic indicators for mucous membrane pemphigoid. In addition, a system of standard reporting for these patients was proposed to facilitate a uniformed data collection. Accordingly, the future investigative opportunities are discussed in the hope that better understanding of the pathogenic mechanism and therefore better therapeutic treatment can be achieved.