Association of HLA class I and class II alleles with bullous pemphigoid in Chinese Hans

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most common autoimmune blistering skin disorder; it commonly develops in the elderly, who present with large and tense bullae on their skin, frequently on their extremities [1]. BP patients have autoantibodies against components of the dermoepidermal basement membrane, such as transmembrane collagen XVII (BP180 or BPAG2) and plakin family protein BP230 (BPAG1), which interfere with the adhesion of basal epidermal keratinocytes [2]. BP180 is considered the major autoantigen of BP [3]; IgG antibodies against the noncollagenous domain 16 (NC16A) of the BP180 ectodomain are detected in more than 90% of BP patients and have been shown to be pathogenic in vitro and in vivo [4].