Immunohistochemical Method for Localization of Antibodies in Cutaneous Disease

Abstract

Using the peroxidase method of Nakane and Pierce, direct immunohistologic staining of uninvolved and involved skin lesions and indirect staining of tissue substrates with sera of patients with pemphigus, pemphigoid, and systemic and discoid lupus erythematosus were done. The reaction product was demonstrated in intercellular spaces with pemphigus, in the basement membrane zone with pemphigoid, systemic and discoid lupus erythematosus lesions, and in nuclei with several systemic lupus erythematosus lesions. The simplicity of the technic using routine light microscopy, its possible application to electron microscopy, and the morphologic detail obtained offer advantages over immunofluorescence methods in immunopathologic studies of cutaneous diseases.