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International audience; OBJECTIVE To identify the prognostic factors of overall survival in a series of patients with paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP). DESIGN Multicenter retrospective cohort study. SETTING Twenty-seven dermatology departments in France. PATIENTS A total of 53 patients (31 men and 22 women; median age, 59 years; age range, 30-88 years) were diagnosed as having PNP between 1992 and 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Overall Kaplan-Meier survival rates were estimated, and features associated with survival were assessed using univariate (log-rank test) and multivariate (Cox regression) analyses. RESULTS The study included 53 patients with PNP. Thirty-six patients (68%) died during the study. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates were 49%, 41%, and 38%, respectively. The main causes of death were infections (n = 21) and evolution of neoplasia (n = 6). In univariate analysis, the main detrimental prognostic factors identified were erythema multiforme-like skin lesions (P = .05) and histologic keratinocyte necrosis (P = .03). None of the 5 patients with Castleman disease died during the study. After adjustment for age and sex in multivariate analysis, erythema multiforme-like skin lesions remained predictive of fatal outcome, with a 2-fold increase in death rate (hazard ratio [HR], 2.3; 95% CI, 1.05-5.03; P = .04). The prognosis of patients with PNP was even poorer when erythema multiforme-like skin lesions were associated with severe skin or mucosal involvement at presentation (HR of death, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.01-8.92; P = .049). CONCLUSION Patients with PNP with erythema multiforme-like skin lesions and histologic keratinocyte necrosis, especially when associated with extensive lesions at presentation, are likely to have a more severe and rapid fatal outcome and should be managed very carefully.

To assess the usefulness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assessment of the combination of bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 (BPAG1) and BPAG2 in the diagnosis of bullous pemphigoid (BP).Retrospective study of serum samples from patients with BP.Tertiary care center.A total of 190 patients with newly diagnosed BP and 78 controls with other autoimmune bullous diseases.Serum samples were tested using commercialized BPAG1 and BPAG2 ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF).The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA for the combination of BPAG1 and BPAG2 in the diagnosis of BP were contrasted with ELISA for each of the antigens alone and with IIF.The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA for the combination of BPAG1 and BPAG2 were 87% and 88%, respectively, compared with 79% and 90% for BPAG2 ELISA, 61% and 96% for BPAG1 ELISA, and 81% and 63% for IIF. The combination of BPAG1 ELISA and BPAG2 ELISA permitted 8% and 16% gains in sensitivity compared with each of BPAG2 ELISA and BPAG1 ELISA alone, respectively. Anti-BPAG1 antibodies were detected in 15 of 40 BP serum samples with no anti-BPAG2 antibodies (38%) and in 8 of 13 serum samples from patients with BP and mucosal involvement (62%) compared with 2 of 22 samples of cicatricial pemphigoid (P = .002) and 0 of 16 epidermolysis bullosa acquisita serum samples (P.001). The BPAG2 ELISA values were more closely correlated with initial extent of BP lesions (r = 0.44, P.001) than BPAG1 ELISA values (r = 0.16, P = .03).Since the combination of BPAG1 and BPAG2 ELISA only slightly increases the sensitivity of BP diagnosis over BPAG2 ELISA alone, BPAG1 ELISA could be adequately proposed in a minority of BP cases with mucosal involvement and in those with no circulating anti-BPAG2 antibodies.