In reply
Di Zenzo and colleagues properly raise their concern about the relative importance of ELISA and IIF for the initial diagnosis of BP. However, they seem to misread the essence of my article in the March 2011 issue of the Archives.1
First, what was my recommendation? As stated in the last paragraph, my recommendation was to urge the experts in the field to develop a consensus regarding the usefulness of ELISA to properly guide the practice of dermatologists.1 I further made this point abundantly clear in the text: “If the expert community does not consider the current evidence about the use of ELISA to be sufficient for inclusion in the diagnostic criteria, then recommendations should be made as to the direction of future research regarding ELISA. ”1(p292)