THE HUMAN GENES FOR DESMOGLEINS (DSG1 AND DSG3) ARE LOCATED IN A SMALL REGION ON CHROMOSOME 18Q12

Desmoglein is a transmembrane glycoprotein component of desmosomes in vertebrate epithelial cells. Two of the three currently known desmogle ins are the autoantigens of autoimmune skin blistering diseases, pemph igus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus, in which autoantibodies cause t he loss of cell adhesion of keratinocytes with resultant blister forma tion, In this study, the genes for two autoantigens (DSG1 for pemphigu s foliaceus and DSG3 for pemphigus vulgaris) were mapped on band q12 o f human chromosome 18 by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Furthermo re, both genes were localized on a 320-kb genomic fragment separated b y pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These results suggest the possibil ity of a cluster for the desmoglein gene family on chromosome 18. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.