Table 1.

Overview of target antigens in immunobullous diseases and diagnostic methods used in this study

Disease	Target antigen	Routine multi-step approach1
Pemphigus vulgaris	Desmoglein 3	Desmoglein 3 ELISA[22]
Pemphigus foliaceus	Desmoglein 1	Desmoglein 1 ELISA[22]
Paraneoplastic pemphigus	Desmoglein 3	Desmoglein 3 ELISA[22]
	Envoplakin	Envoplakin ELISA[21]
	Periplakin/ Desmoplakin I/II	Immunoblot with extract of cultured HaCaT cells [21]
		Indirect IF microscopy on rat and monkey bladder
Bullous pemphigoid	BP180	BP180 NC16A ELISA[20]
	BP230	BP230 ELISA[51]
	Soluble ectodomain of BP180 (LAD-1)	BP180 4575 (c-terminal fragment) Immunoblot [33,63]
		LAD-1 Immunoblot [33,63]
Pemphigoid gestationis	BP180	BP180 NC16A ELISA[20]
		Complement binding test
Linear IgA dermatosis	Soluble ectodomain of BP180 (LAD-1)	Immunoblot with conditioned medium of cultured HaCaT cells (IgA reactivity) ) [33,63]
	BP230	BP230 ELISA[51]
Lichen planus pemphigoides	BP180	BP180 NC16A ELISA[51]
	BP230	BP230 ELISA[51]
Mucous membrane pemphigoid	Soluble ectodomain of BP180 (LAD-1)	Immunoblot with conditioned medium of cultured HaCaT cells (IgG and IgA reactivity) [33]
	BP180	BP180 NC16A ELISA [20]
	BP230	BP230 ELISA [51]
	Laminin 332	Immunoblot with extracellular matrix of cultured HaCaT cells [13,35]
laminin γ1/anti-p200 pemphigoid	p200 protein/ Laminin γ1	Immunoblot with extract of human dermis [34]
		Immunoblot with recombinant laminin γ1 C-term [37]
Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita	Type VII collagen	Immunoblot with recombinant NC1-domain of type VII collagen [36]
Dermatitis herpetiformis	Epidermal/tissue transglutaminase, gliadin	Transglutaminase ELISA deamidated gliadin-analogous fusion peptide-specific ELISA [32]

¹in addition, all sera were subjected to indirect IF microscopy on human salt-split skin and monkey esophagus. The exact diagnostic algorithm applied in this study is detailed in [38].

IF, immunofluorescence; LAD-1, linear IgA dermatosis antigen 1(soluble ectodomain of BP180); BP180NC16A, targeted extracellular domain of BP180.