Improvement of immunological tests for detecting autoantibodies in patients with lamina lucida-type linear IgA bullous dermatosis.

Background: In the diagnosis of linear IgA bullous dermatosis (LABD), detection of IgA at the epidermal basement membrane zone and circulating IgA autoantibodies are essential. The disease has two subtypes, lamina lucida-type and sublamina densa-type, with 120 kDa LAD-1 and 97 kDa LABD97 as major autoantigens for lamina lucida-type. Normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and HaCaT cells are widely used for immunoblotting (IB) in the diagnosis process, but they do not provide high sensitivity and semiquantitative analysis.

Elevated levels of interleukin-9 in the serum of bullous pemphigoid: possible association with the pathogenicity of bullous pemphigoid.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease (sAIBD). In addition to disease causing autoantibodies, several leukocyte subsets, including mast cells and eosinophils, play key roles in mediating skin inflammation. Detailed immunophenotyping and, more recently, the therapeutic effects of interleukin-4 (IL-4) receptor alpha inhibition in BP pointed to a prominent role of T helper 2 (Th2) cells.