Recent patents in pemphigus research, prophylaxis, diagnosis and treatment in USA (1988-2006).

Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease which is characterized histologically by intraepidermal blisters due to separation of epidermal cell-cell contacts, and immunopathologically by circulating IgG type autoantibodies directed against the desmosomes, which is the cell-cell attachment device in the epidermis. This review briefly summarizes current concepts of conventional diagnosis and treatment of pemphigus, and then focuses on recent US patents related to Pemphigus research, prophylaxis, and diagnosis and treatment from 1988 to 2006. As a result, possible new therapeutic approaches, prophylaxis, diagnostic procedures, or experimental models for the Pemphigus have been disclosed.