Epidermolysis bullosa simplex in sibling Eurasier dogs is caused by a PLEC non-sense variant

Plectin, a large linker protein found in many tissues, acts to connect components of the cytoskeleton to each other. In the epidermis, plectin binds keratin intermediate filaments to hemidesmosomes. A deficiency of plectin in the skin leads to blister formation in the basal layer and the disease epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS).

To describe a novel blistering disease that arose spontaneously in a litter of puppies.

Two female and one male 20-day-old Eurasier puppies, from a litter of six, were presented for evaluation of failure to thrive and then euthanized due to poor prognosis. The puppies had ulcers on the lips, tongue, nasal planum, paw pads and abdomen.

Immunolabelling on frozen skin for basement membrane proteins revealed patchy and weak to absent staining for plectin as compared with strong linear staining in normal dogs. Ultrastructurally, hemidesmosomes were irregularly shaped and had loss of distinction between inner and outer plaques. Pedigree analysis supported an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. A premature stop codon was discovered in exon 27 of PLEC that resulted in the production of a severely truncated protein.

The study describes the first documented spontaneous EBS associated with a PLEC variant in domestic animals.