Nail Involvement in Autoimmune Bullous Disorders
January 2011
TLDR The nail immune system is similar to hair but different from skin, with fewer immune markers.
The study by Sinclair and colleagues demonstrated that the expression of epidermal hemidesmosome antigens and basal membrane zone (BMZ) antigens in the nail apparatus was similar to that in normal skin. The nail immune system was found to be akin to the hair follicle immune system, featuring an area of "immune privilege" in the proximal nail matrix, which may protect against autoimmunity. However, the nail immune system differed from the skin immune system in terms of the distribution and function of immunological markers, with fewer antigen-presenting cells and reduced major histocompatibility complex expression in the nail compared to the epidermis.