We describe a case of endocarditis caused by Streptobacillus moniliformis bacteria, a known cause of rat-bite fever, in a 32-year-old woman with pet rats in Germany. The patient had a strong serologic response, with high IgM and IgG titers. Serologic analysis is a promising tool to identify S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) are potentially life-threatening autoimmune blistering diseases. Treatment is based on long-term immunosuppression with high doses of glucocorticosteroids in combination with potentially corticosteroid-sparing agents and/or rituximab. Immunoadsorption (IA) has emerged as a fast-acting adjuvant treatment option.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering disease that primarily affects the elderly. An altered skin microbiota in BP was recently revealed. Accumulating evidence points toward a link between the gut microbiota and skin diseases; however, the gut microbiota composition of BP patients remains largely underexplored, with only one pilot study to date, with a very limited sample size and no functional profiling of gut microbiota.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGraefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol
February 2024
Background: The occurrence of herpes zoster is rising globally. Future trends will be influenced by changes in population demographics and the growing number of patients at risk. Overall this poses a challenge for healthcare systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Psoriasis (Pso) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) can reduce the quality of life (QoL) and are known to be associated with depression. Within this study, we aimed to assess the burden of disease, functional capacity, quality of life, and depressive symptoms and identify factors predicting functional impairment and depression in patients with psoriatic disease.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a cohort of 300 patients with psoriatic disease including 150 patients from a university hospital dermatology outpatient clinic and 150 patients from a university hospital rheumatology outpatient clinic.
An involvement of the esophagus in patients with lichen planus was described for the first time in 1982. Ever since, it has been seen as a rarity. However, studies over the last 10 years have shown a higher prevalence than expected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPemphigoid diseases are a group of autoimmune disorders characterized by subepidermal blistering in the skin and mucosa. Among them, mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) autoantibodies are characterized by targeting multiple molecules in the hemidesmosomes, including collagen XVII, laminin-332, and integrin a6/β4. Traditionally, recombinant proteins of the autoantigens have been employed to identify circulating autoantibodies by immune assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a rare autoimmune, polymorphous blistering disorder, characterized by severe itch or burning sensation, which represents the cutaneous manifestation of celiac disease (CD). The current estimation of DH versus CD is around 1:8 and the affected individuals have a genetic predisposition. Pathogenetically, IgA autoantibodies against the epidermal transglutaminase, an essential constituent of the epidermis, cause DH and are reported to develop through cross-reaction with the tissue transglutaminase, with IgA auto-antibodies causing CD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBD) are a heterogeneous group of rare autoantibody-mediated blistering dermatoses of the skin and/or mucous membranes. Their incidence is around 20 new cases per million inhabitants per year in Germany. Patients with chronic, oncological, or rare diseases often urge for a holistic therapeutic approach that includes complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Med (Lausanne)
November 2022
A male patient presented to our department at the age of 23 suffering from recurrent painful erosions in the urethral outlet area. In closer clinical examination gingival erosions, primarily around the teeth were identified as well. Indirect immunofluorescence on salt split skin with epidermal IgG deposition and positive anti-BP230 IgG ELISA diagnostics hinted toward the presence of mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLichen planus (LP) is a frequent, chronic inflammatory disease involving the skin, mucous membranes and/or skin appendages. Esophageal involvement in lichen planus (ELP) is a clinically important albeit underdiagnosed inflammatory condition. This narrative review aims to give an overview of the current knowledge on ELP, its prevalence, pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, diagnostic criteria, and therapeutic options in order to provide support in clinical management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) induce T-cell-mediated antitumour responses. While ICI were initially successfully applied in metastasized melanoma, they are now approved for several tumour entities. Numerous autoimmune disorders have been reported to occur as adverse events of the treatment, among them bullous pemphigoid (BP), with less than 1% of the patients experiencing ICI-induced BP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Bullous pemphigoid is a difficult-to-treat autoimmune blistering skin disease that predominantly affects older adults and is associated with an increased mortality rate.
Objective: To examine the safety and therapeutic potential of nomacopan, an inhibitor of leukotriene B4 and complement C5, in patients with bullous pemphigoid.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter, single-group, phase 2a nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted in the dermatology departments of universities in the Netherlands and Germany.
Collagen VII is the main constituent of the anchoring fibrils, important adhesive structures that attach the epidermis to the dermal extracellular matrix. Two disorders are caused by dysfunction of collagen VII, both characterized by skin and mucosa fragility, epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). EBA and DEB share high clinical similarities with significant difference in patients' age of onset and pathogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis case series characterizes immune profiles of pregnant people with pemphigoid gestationis.
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