Studies in Immunodermatology

Antisera to whole serum of pemphigus patients and to crude preparations of normal human <i>γ</i>-globulin give immunofluorescent (IF) staining of the basement membrane (BM) and reticulin (R) of such tissues as monkey esophagus, kidney tubule basement membrane, lung and brain connective tissue. The organ specificity of these BM and R antibodies of the goat antisera differs from that of the basement membrane zone antibodies found in sera of bullous pemphigoid. Inhibition of IF staining of monkey esophagus with a goat antiserum to a pemphigus serum by absorption with human sera revealed that elevated levels of esophageal BM and R antigens appeared in a significantly higher proportion of pemphigus sera (10 of 11) than in control sera (3 of 12). Essentially the converse held true of the BM and R antigens of monkey kidney tubules. Significantly more control sera (22 of 28) than pemphigus sera (4 of 11) gave strong inhibition of IF staining of tubular basement membrane with a goat antiserum to a pemphigus serum. These findings suggest that impaired or altered clearing of tissue antigens from the circulation may be a factor in the formation of pemphigus antibodies.