Abstract
The detection of autoantibodies to epidermal or basement membrane zone proteins by immunoblot (IB) is use- ful for the diagnosis and the classification of autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBD). using human skin extracts is actu- ally the reference method but cell line is proposed as easier alternate antigen source. We explored the performances of A431 IB in comparison with the reference technique in retrospectively selected pa- tients suffering from well-established bullous pemphigoid (n=42) or pemphigus vulgaris (n=15) and controls (n=80) in or- der to determine the validity and interest of this simplified method. We demonstrated that in our selected population performances are comparable to the reference IB. remains semi-quantitative and time-consuming but much more economical and informative than commercially available ELISAs. We support the contention that, in 2012, IB, especially IB, is still useful for the serological diagnosis of AIBD.
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