Condition: Autoimmune Blistering Diseases

Autoimmune blistering diseases are a group of disorders in which the body mistakenly attacks healthy tissue, causing blistering lesions that primarily affect the skin and mucous and membranes. In autoimmune blistering diseases, antibodies mistakenly attack proteins that are essential for the layers of skin to stick (adhere) together. The specific symptoms and severity of blistering diseases vary from one person to another, even among individuals with the same disorder. In some cases, blistering lesions can cover a significant portion of the skin. Although there is no cure for autoimmune blistering diseases, they can often be controlled with treatment. In other cases, autoimmune blistering diseases if left untreated can eventually cause life-threatening complications. In recent years, new insight into the causes and development of these disorders has led to research into new therapies such as the development of drugs that target the specific antibodies which cause the symptoms of these diseases. NORD has individual reports on many of the specific disorders classified as autoimmune blistering diseases. For more information, choose the specific disease name as your search term in the Rare Disease Database.