Crossreactivity: The possible role of oral microbiota in oral mucous membrane pemphigoid

Pemphigoid diseases are a group of autoimmune vesiculobullous diseases, clinically characterized by tense blisters and erosions on the skin and/or mucous membranes. Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid (MMP), formerly referred to as cicatricial pemphigoid, is a subset of pemphigoid, affecting predominantly the mucosae [1]. MMP frequently involves the oral cavity [2], especially the gingiva [1–3]. Gingival manifestation of MMP is called Desquamative Gingivitis (DG), which is characterized by desquamation, erythema, erosions of the gingival epithelial, and vesiculobullous lesions [4,5]. The autoantigens of MMP that have been identified by circulating autoantibodies in the patients’ sera include 180 kDa bullous pemphigoid antigen 2 (BP180) [1,6–9] and bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 (BP230) [10–12], two hemidesmosome components.