Autoimmunity of Pemphigus

	Publications

The long term goal of Dr. Culton's laboratory is to better understand the development of cutaneous autoimmune disease with particular interest in autoreactive B lymphocyte development, regulation, and contribution to disease.

We are currently studying pemphigus as a disease model of autoimmunity.  Pemphigus is a group of life threatening blistering autoimmune diseases of the skin caused by autoantibodies directed against the cell adhesion molecules desmoglein 1 (dsg1) and desmoglein 3 (dsg3).  The aim of our research is to understand the development and behavior of anti-desmoglein (dsg) B cells and the autoantibodies they eventually produce, and to clarify their role in the patholgenesis of pemphigus.