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Indian Journal of Dermatology logoLink to Indian Journal of Dermatology
letter
. 2009 Apr-Jun;54(2):192. doi: 10.4103/0019-5154.53181

A SYSTEMATIC METANALYSIS ON DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF DsG3 ELISA FOR PEMPHIGUS VULGARIS

Viroj Wiwanitkit 1
PMCID: PMC2807167  PMID: 20101324

Sir,

Pemphigus vulgaris is an important dermatological immune disorder. It presents with blistering skin lesions. Recently, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using desmoglein (Dsg) 3 has become the new diagnostic tool for this skin disease. The diagnostic value of Dsg3 ELISA test is varied in different settings. In addition, most reports on the diagnostic value of Dsg3 ELISA contained only a few subjects. Therefore, a systematic metanalysis on this topic is required. In this paper, the author summarizes the diagnostic value of Dsg3 ELISA for pemphigus vulgaris. There are four quoted papers[14] on this topic. There are 232 cases and 446 controls [Table 1]. According to this study, the overall sensitivity and specificity are equal to 90.5 and 98.7%, respectively. This can imply the good diagnostic property of Dsg3 ELISA for pemphigus vulgaris.

Table 1.

Reports on diagnostic value of Dsg3 ELISA for pemphigus vulgaris

Authors Number of subject Sensitivity (%) Specificity (%)

Cases Controls
Huang et al.[1] 20 114 85 99.1
Harmann et al.[2] 82 77 95 98
Amagai et al.[3] 81 179 85.2 100
Ishi et al.[4] 49 76 94 96

References

  • 1.Huang CH, Chen CC, Wang CJ, Chang YT, Liu HN. Using desmoglein 1 and 3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as an adjunct diagnostic tool for pemphigus. J Chin Med Assoc. 2007;70:65–70. doi: 10.1016/S1726-4901(09)70304-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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  • 3.Amagai M, Tsunoda K, Zillikens D, Nagai T, Nishikawa T. The clinical phenotype of pemphigus is defined by the anti-desmoglein autoantibody profile. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1999;40:167–70. doi: 10.1016/s0190-9622(99)70183-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Ishii K, Amagai M, Ohata Y, Shimizu H, Hashimoto T, Ohya K, et al. Development of pemphigus vulgaris in a patient with pemphigus foliaceus: Antidesmoglein antibody profile shift confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2000;42:859–61. doi: 10.1016/s0190-9622(00)90253-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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