In an earlier study, the circulating
autoantibodies in patients with
bullous pemphigoid (BP) were demonstrated in higher frequencies by means of an immunoblot technique then via indirect immunofluorescence. In the present work with the help of
Peptide Structure software, two matched antigenic
epitopes were chosen and synthesized. The sera of 34 patients with BP were investigated in parallel by an immunoblot technique using a human epidermal extract, and by an ELISA technique with synthetic
peptides. The sera of 16 healthy persons and 10 patients with other bullous diseases served as controls. Among the 34 patients with BP, 23 sera proved positive for at least one synthetic
peptide. Positive reactions with the major BP
antigen (230 kD) were found in 22 patients by immunoblot technique and in 16 patients by the ELISA technique with the synthetic
peptide, whereas with the minor BP
antigen (180 kD), positive reactions were found in 9 patients by the immunoblot technique and 18 patients by the ELISA technique using the synthetic antigenic
epitope of the minor BP
antigen. All control sera were negative for both
antigens in ELISA investigations. In 3 patients with
pemphigus vulgaris, characteristic bands against
pemphigus vulgaris antigen were identified by means of the immunoblot technique, but all other cases were negative. It is suggested that the development of this technique may lead to an opportunity for the rapid and simple diagnosis of BP.