INTRODUCTION: Pemphigus is a chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease which 
can cause blisters and mucocutaneous erosions. ABO secretor refers to those who 
secrete ABO blood group antigens based on their blood type in body fluids such 
as saliva, sweat, tears, semen, and serum. Previous studies showed that 
nonsecretor people are more prone to certain autoimmune diseases.
AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the ABO secretor status in the 
saliva of patients with pemphigus vulgaris.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This case-control study was conducted on 35 patients with 
pemphigus vulgaris and 35 healthy controls. The two groups were matched for age 
and gender. Pemphigus vulgaris diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology and 
direct immunofluorescence microscopy. ABO blood grouping was done, and 5 ml of 
unstimulated saliva was collected to determine secretor status. Secretors were 
recognized from nonsecretors by the Wiener agglutination inhibition test. 
Results were extracted by using statistical chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.
RESULTS: 16 male and 19 female patients aged 49.43 ± .12.37 years were compared 
with 16 male and 19 female controls aged 46.43 ± 11.88 years. The most frequent 
blood group among case and control groups was O (54.3% and 60%, respectively). 
There was no significant difference in blood groups (P=0.73). 90% of the samples 
were ABO secretors. The patient group included 31 (88.6%) and the control group 
included 32 (91.4%) ABO secretors; there was no significant difference between 
the two groups (P=1.000).
CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that the people with nonsecretor status 
in comparison with the people with secretor status are not more susceptible to 
develop pemphigus vulgaris.