Linear IgA disease: successful treatment with erythromycin.
Author(s): Cooper SM, Powell J, Wojnarowska F
Affiliation(s): Department of Dermatology, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, Oxford, UK. sm_nc@btopenworld.com
Publication date & source: 2002-11, Clin Exp Dermatol., 27(8):677-9.
Publication type: Case Reports
Conventional first-line treatments for linear IgA disease (and the related chronic immunobullous disease of childhood) include topical steroids and dapsone, both of which may be associated with potentially serious side-effects. Alternative anti-inflammatory therapies such as tetracycline and macrolide antibiotics, have been used to treat other immunobullous disorders and we now report an adult case of linear IgA disease and a paediatric case of mixed immunobullous disease of childhood that both responded to the macrolide antibiotic erythromycin. The mode of action is speculative and anti-inflammatory mechanisms are unclear. Nevertheless, from a clinical perspective, erythromycin may have a role in the treatment of linear IgA disease and could be considered ahead of many other, perhaps potentially more toxic, therapies.
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