Figure 1.

Rituximab (Rtx) treatment of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients leads to clinical improvement of skin and mucosal lesions and is accompanied by decreased IgG titers against distinct regions of desmoglein 3 (Dsg3) ectodomain. Treatment with Rtx of 22 PV patients led to a significant improvement of mucosal and skin lesions and is expressed as reduced mucosal and body surface area (BSA) scores within 6 months after treatment (Figure 1(a)). In the same way, the dose of prednisolone was reduced (Figure 1(a)). By enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, there was clearly a reduction of IgG reactivity against the Dsg3 ectodomain (Dsg3EC1-5) and defined regions of the Dsg3 ectodomain (Figure 1(b)). The number of studied patients or sera, respectively, is given in parenthesis. Rtx (time when rituximab was administered).