Antiepiligrin (laminin 5) cicatricial pemphigoid associated with an underlying gastric carcinoma producing laminin 5

Although bullous pemphigoid and cicatricial pemphigoid are sometimes associ ated with malignancy, it remains uncertain whether such an association is p athogenetically related or just a coincidence attributable to the advanced age of the patients, We report a 61-year-old patient with antiepiligrin (la minin 5) cicatricial pemphigoid (AeCP) associated with an advanced gastric carcinoma. The gastric carcinoma cells in this patient were shown to produc e laminin 5 by immunofluorescence microscopy, and the patient's serum conta ined autoantibodies directed against laminin 5 on immunoprecipitation. Furt hermore, the blistering symptoms and the titre of antibasement membrane zon e antibodies coordinately changed with the resection and subsequent relapse of the gastric cancer. These observations suggest that the gastric carcino ma producing laminin 5 may have induced the production of autoantibodies to this laminin, which were pathogenic to the skin and mucous membranes in th is patient. This report demonstrates a link between this autoimmune subepit helial blistering disease and malignancy. It is of interest and potential g reat importance to examine other cases of AeCP for such a potential associa tion.