Faculty Opinions Recommendation of Loss of Desmocollin 3 in Mice Leads to Epidermal Blistering

The study by Chen et al. demonstrated that the loss of desmocollin 3 (DSC3) in mice led to intraepidermal blistering and telogen hair loss, suggesting DSC3's crucial role in epidermal cell adhesion. Conditional knockout mice exhibited severe skin fragility and blistering similar to pemphigus vulgaris (PV), but without mucosal involvement. The findings indicated that DSC3 might be a target for autoantibodies in PV, supporting the hypothesis that impaired DSC3 function could cause PV-like autoimmune skin blistering in humans. The study also highlighted the potential for DSC3 autoantibodies to be involved in a new autoimmune bullous skin disease, warranting further research on the detachment of keratinocytes using patient serum or monoclonal antibodies.