Anti-mucosal antibodies in recurrent aphthous ulcers.

Using indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique, anti-mucosal antibodies were evaluated in single or sequentially multiple sera from 21 patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers (RAU), 41 age/sex-matched healthy subjects, and 40 patients with miscellaneous oral mucosal diseases. Although anti-mucosal antibodies were found widely distributed in patients having oral mucosal diseases, there were significantly higher rates of positive anti-mucosal antibodies (15/21, 71%) and circulating intercellular substance (ICS) antibodies (14/21, 67%) in RAU patients as compared with either the healthy subjects or patients with miscellaneous oral mucosal diseases. Circulating ICS antibodies of IgG class were found to be significantly predominant in the active phase of 67% (14/21) RAU patients. The percentage decreased in the order of 25% (4/16) in the remission phase of one week, and to 10% (1/10) in the remission phase of two weeks. The presence of pemphigus-like antibodies might be elicited by the epidermal occult antigens released from damaged tissue and/or due to the transient immunoregulatory dysfunction caused by certain infectious agents.