Targeted Immunotherapy with Rituximab Leads to a Transient Alteration of the IgG Autoantibody Profile in Pemphigus Vulgaris
Figure 1
Rituximab (Rtx) treatment of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients leads to clinical improvement of skin and mucosal lesions and is accompanied by decreased IgG titers against distinct regions of desmoglein 3 (Dsg3) ectodomain. Treatment with Rtx of 22 PV patients led to a significant improvement of mucosal and skin lesions and is expressed as reduced mucosal and body surface area (BSA) scores within 6 months after treatment (Figure 1(a)). In the same way, the dose of prednisolone was reduced (Figure 1(a)). By enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, there was clearly a reduction of IgG reactivity against the Dsg3 ectodomain (Dsg3EC1-5) and defined regions of the Dsg3 ectodomain (Figure 1(b)). The number of studied patients or sera, respectively, is given in parenthesis. Rtx (time when rituximab was administered).
