A Case of Anti-Epiligrin Cicatricial Pemphigoid Associated with Lung Carcinoma and Severe Laryngeal Stenosis: Review of Japanese Cases and Evaluation of Risk for Internal Malignancy

A 68-year-old Japanese male with a five-year-history of lung carcinoma showed recurrent blisters and erosions on the oral and genital mucosae and the skin. The patient complained of dyspnea due to severe laryngeal stenosis and underwent a tracheostomy. A skin biopsy specimen showed a subepidermal blister and linear deposits of IgG and C3 at the basement membrane zone of the epidermis. Indirect immunofluorescence examination demonstrated circulating IgG anti-basement membrane zone autoantibodies that reacted to epiligrin on immunoblotting. Based on a diagnosis of anti-epiligrin cicatricial pemphigoid, he was treated with prednisolone, minocycline hydrochloride and nicotinamide. Although no new skin lesions appeared, he died of lung carcinoma five months after the tracheostomy. A review of reported cases with anti-epiligrin cicatricial pemphigoid in Japan disclosed that 5 of 16 cases (31.2%) were complicated by internal malignancies.