Bullous pemphigoid and autoimmunity.

Abstract

There are many case reports of bullous pemphigoid (BP) in association with a variety of autoimmune disorders, but no large case controlled studies have been performed. Our purpose was to determine whether there is an increased incidence of autoimmune disorders in patients with BP and whether there is a particular haplotype associated with this. A total of 108 patients with BP were studied and compared with a group of 108 age- and sex-matched controls. HLA typing at the A, B, C, and DR loci was performed on 55 of the 108 patients with BP. The difference in incidence of autoimmune disorders between patients and controls was not significant. The haplotypes of patients with BP were similar to those of a locally drawn population. There is no increase in the incidence of autoimmune disorders in BP, and no particular haplotype appears to be associated with a predisposition to this condition.