Deposition of fibrinogen (FR-antigen) in skin diseases. II. Pustulosis palmaris et plantaris (with special reference to heparin-precipitable fraction).

Ten out-patients with pustulosis palmaris et plantaris were examined with direct immunofluorescence (IF) technique for deposition of fibrinogen, fibrin or its degradation products (FR-antigen) in affected and unaffected skin, together with heparin-precipitable fraction (HPF), cryoglobulin and total plasma fibrinogen in the blood. FR-antigen was found in all cases in affected skin as a uniform pattern of a continuous ramification below the dermo-epidermal junction. This IF picture was absent in unaffected skin, but in other parts of the dermis in affected and unaffected skin, scattered streaks of IF could be seen. In one case, however, unevenly distributed IF was found in unaffected skin in the junction area. The scattered IF was also present in a minor degree in affected and unaffected skin in a control material of other dermatoses. Only one patient had slightly elevated values of HPF (0.33 mg/ml). Total plasma fibrinogen was insignificantly elevated, and no cryoglobulin could be found.