Pemphigus vulgaris. Superior sensitivity of monkey esophagus in the determination of pemphigus antibody.

This study demonstrates that monkey esophagus is a more sensitive substrate than guinea pig esophagus for the demonstration of serum antibodies, in patients with pemphigus vulgaris. In this study, for example, five patients with active pemphigus who had demonstrable pemphigus antibodies on monkey esophagus substrate failed to demonstrate pemphigus antibody activity when guinea pig esophagus was employed as a substrate. Furthermore, pemphigus antibody titers determined on monkey esophagus substrate frequently exceeded, by several dilutions, titers detected with guinea pig esophagus. By contrast, in no instance did we detect pemphigus antibody titer activity on guinea pig esophagus in excess of the pemphigus antibody activity detected on monkey esophagus. The reason for the disparity in the sensitivity of the guinea pig and monkey esophagus substrates is unknown.