ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2019 April;178(4):216-20

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.18.03763-4

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Non-specific autoantibodies in pemphigus vulgaris

Hojat EFTEKHARI ¹, Rana RAFIEI ¹ ✉, Vida JAMSHIDNOVEIRY ¹, Elahe RAFIEE ², Abbas DARJANI ¹, Narges ALIZADE ¹, Kaveh GHARAEINEJAD ¹, Behnam RAFIEE ³

¹ Skin Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Razi Hospital, Rasht, Iran; ² Department of Research and Technology, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran; ³ Department of Pathology, NYU Winthrop Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA

BACKGROUND: Pemphigus vulgaris is a rare autoimmune bullous disorder caused by production of specific autoantibodies against desmoglein proteins which are presented on the keratinocyte adhesion plaques. Disruption of these adhesions results in acantholysis and erosions on the skin and mucosal surfaces. Pemphigus vulgaris could be associated with other autoimmune disorders such as thyroid or connective tissue diseases, so detection of non-organ-specific autoantibodies in pemphigus group could not be unusual. Early diagnosis of other autoimmune diseases in our cases could enable us for better management of pemphigus patients. This study has been conducted to compare frequency of these non-specific autoantibodies between pemphigus vulgaris patients and healthy people.
METHODS: In this comparative cross-sectional study, 32 patients with pemphigus vulgaris and 32 healthy subjects were enrolled. Demographic characteristics (age and sex), clinical presentations of pemphigus (mucosal or cutaneous involvement), serum levels of antinuclear antibody, Rheumatoid Factor, antithyroid peroxidase and antithyroglobulin antibodies were collected for all subjects. If non-specific autoantibodies were more than normal limits in each group, more specific antibodies for an individual subject were evaluated. The data was analyzed using SPSS 18 software.
RESULTS: A total of 32 patients of recently diagnosed pemphigus vulgaris without any treatment and 32 age and gender-matched healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Mean age of our participants was 48.91±16.09. There was not statistically significant difference in frequency of positive antinuclear antibody (9.4% vs. 12.5%), antithyroid peroxidase (15.6% vs. 12.5%) and antithyroglobulin antibodies (18.8% vs. 12.5%) in pemphigus vulgaris patients compared to healthy people (P value>0.05) and no case of positive Rheumatoid factor was detected.
CONCLUSIONS: We could not find higher frequency of non-specific autoantibodies in pemphigus vulgaris compared to control group, probably due to small sample size, genetic variations and some different laboratory techniques. It seems logical to screen pemphigus patients for other autoimmune diseases, although it is not mandatory for every patient.

KEY WORDS: Autoantibodies - Pemphigus - Thyroid disease