Journal article

Pemphigus vulgaris autoimmune globulin induces Src-dependent tyrosine-phosphorylation of plakophilin 3 and its detachment from desmoglein 3

Nicola Cirillo, Emad AlShwaimi, Michael McCullough, Stephen S Prime

AUTOIMMUNITY | INFORMA HEALTHCARE | Published : 2014

Abstract

The cell adhesion molecule plakophilin 3 (Pkp3) plays an essential role in the maintenance of skin integrity and is targeted in certain autoimmune conditions. In one example, we have shown that Pkp3 is instrumental in mediating the discohesive effects of sera from patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV), a life-threatening autoimmune disease that targets intercellular adhesion in the epidermis. In the present study, we determine the effect of PV autoimmune globulin (PV IgG) on Pkp3 in an in-vitro model of PV. We demonstrate that Pkp3 becomes tyrosine phosphorylated as early as 30 min upon binding of PV IgG to keratinocyte surface and eventually detaches from its binding partner desmoglein 3 (D..

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Funding Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a CMM grant from the University of Bristol, UK (N.C.). The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Oral Health Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the University of Melbourne, and the College of Dentistry, University of Dammam. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.