Expression of BP180 antibody in sera of patients with bullous pemphigoid and nervous system diseases

Abstract

Objective To measure the expression of BP180 antibody in sera of patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) and/or nervous system diseases (ND) , and to explore the relationship between BP and ND. Methods Clinical data were collected from some inpatients and outpatients with BP in Department of Dermatology, as well as some inpatients with ND in Department of Neurology, the Second Hospital of Jilin University between March 2012 and September 2013. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 20 BP patients without a medical history of ND (BP group) , 20 patients with ND alone (ND group) , 20 BP patients with a medical history of ND (BP + ND group) , and 20 healthy controls (healthy control group) separately. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect the serum level of BP180 antibody in the above groups. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS17.0 software by using chi-square test for comparing enumeration data, analysis of variance for comparing the anti-BP180 antibody titer or ages among the above 4 groups, and Games-Howell test for multiple comparisons. Results No anti-BP180 antibody was detected in any of the 20 subjects in the healthy control group. All of the patients in the BP group and BP + ND group were positive for anti-BP180 antibody, and the antibody titers were 128.347 ± 54.678 and 143.482 ± 72.568 respectively. Of the 20 patients in the ND group, 7 were positive for anti-BP180 antibody, including 4 with cerebral hemorrhage and 3 with cerebral thrombosis, and the highest anti-BP180 antibody titer of 39.638 was recorded in 1 patient with cerebral infarction. There was a significant difference in the anti-BP180 antibody titer among the 4 groups (F = 55.624, P < 0.05) . In addition, there was no significant difference in the anti-BP180 antibody titer between the BP group and BP + ND group (P = 0.878) , while the anti-BP180 antibody titers significantly differed between the BP group and ND group, between the BP group and healthy control group, between the BP + ND group and ND group, between the BP + ND group and healthy control group, and between the ND group and healthy control group (P < 0.05) . Conclusion BP may occur in ND patients with an increased anti-BP180 antibody titer. Key words: Pemphigoid, bullous; Nervous system diseases; Autoantibodies; BP180