Unusual recurrent skin lesions: Bazin's disease

A 46 year old Iraqi Kurd female patient was presented with recurrent round erythematous skin lesions on her upper and lower extremities mainly calves, lower abdomen, and buttock for 3 years. Routine laboratory investigations were unremarkable; however, based on strongly positive tuberculin skin test, positive interferon gamma release assay, histo-pathological findings and a response to anti-TB treatment, she was diagnosed with Erythem Induratum of Bazin (EIB). The patient was treated successfully with combination anti-TB drugs. The skin lesions disappeared after 2 months of the treatment. There was no recurrence of the lesions over a 6 month follow up period.

The NRAMPI, VDR and TNF-¦Á gene polymorphisms in Iranian tuberculosis patients: the study on host susceptibility

The natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP1), Vitamin-D receptor (VDR) and Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-¦Á) have been associated in susceptibility to tuberculosis, but the results have been inconsistent. This study aimed to determine the association of NRAMP1, VDR, and TNF-¨¢ variant with development of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among Iranian patients. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at INT4, D543, 3'UTR of NRAMP1 gene, SNPs in restriction sites of BsmI, and FokI of the VDR gene and SNPs of TNF-¦Á at -238,-308, -244,857,-863 positions were analyzed by PCR-RFLP among two groups of individual; patients with PTB (n=117) and healthy controls (n=60). Thereafter, the frequencies of extended haplotypes and diplotypes were estimated. No statistically significant differences were observed in allele frequencies of INT4, D543, 3'UTR of NRAMPI, FokI of VDR and TNF-¦Á at -238, -244,-863 and -857 position. Although, the frequency of b allele of BsmI [ORs: 0.24 CI95 percent (0.07-0.67 (p=0.001)] and -308 A variant in TNF-¦Á promoter region [ORs:0.26 CI95 percent( 0.07-0.77) (p=0.006)] were significantly more in PTB patients than healthy controls. The frequency of extended diplotypes of NRAMP [GG TGTG++GA; 0.02(0.001-0.0035)], VDR [FFBB; 0.2(0.6-0.6] and TNF-¦Á [CCCCGGGGGG; 0.49(0.25-0.97)] were statistically different in patients and control subjects (p<0.05). This study confirmed the association of SNPs in BsmI (B/b + b/b) of VDR and SNPs in -308A (G/A +G/G) of TNF-¦Á genes with susceptibility to tuberculosis in Iranian PTB patients. Furthermore, the extended haplotypes and diplotypes analysis can be considered as an alternative way to determine the host susceptibility to TB.