ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Patients who have received renal allografts experience early aging of the skin, opportunistic infections, and an increased incidence of skin cancer. OBJECTIVE: We compared the density of lymphocyte subsets and Langerhans cells in normal-appearing skin of renal allograft recipients without skin cancer at 5 to 6 years (group 1) and 14 years after transplant (group 2) with a matched normal control group. METHODS: Biopsy specimens of sun-protected and exposed areas from 18 white, kidney allograft recipients (10 in group 1 and 8 in group 2) with normal renal function and from 10 healthy volunteers were semiquantitatively analyzed for dermal lymphocyte subsets and Langerhans cells. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in all dermal cell elements in the sun-protected skin of both groups of patients who had received grafts. The sun-exposed skin of group 2 also showed a significant decrease of dermal CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes, and group 1 had a significant decrease in dermal CD8+ lymphocytes. The dermal CD1a+ cell population in the sun-exposed skin from both grafted groups did not differ from the control group. CONCLUSION: Kidney transplant recipients showed dermal depletion of cells related to immune surveillance against tumors even before skin cancer occurred, and this depletion seemed to become more marked with the duration of immunosuppression.
Subject(s)
Immunosuppression Therapy , Kidney Transplantation , Langerhans Cells/pathology , Lymphocyte Subsets/pathology , Skin/pathology , Sunlight/adverse effects , Sunscreening Agents/therapeutic use , Adult , Biopsy , CD4 Lymphocyte Count , CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/pathology , CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/pathology , Case-Control Studies , Cell Count , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incidence , Kidney Transplantation/immunology , Lymphocyte Count , Lymphocyte Depletion , Male , Opportunistic Infections/etiology , Skin/drug effects , Skin/radiation effects , Skin Aging , Skin Diseases, Infectious/etiology , Skin Neoplasms/etiology , Time Factors , Transplantation, HomologousABSTRACT
We describe a woman with sclerotic and atrophic lesions of the breast. Histopathologic and immunologic findings indicated a diagnosis of lupus erythematosus. Lupus mastitis is a rare presentation of panniculitis; only a few cases have been reported in the literature.
Subject(s)
Mastitis/diagnosis , Panniculitis, Lupus Erythematosus/diagnosis , Adult , Female , Humans , Mastitis/complications , Mastitis/immunology , Panniculitis, Lupus Erythematosus/complications , Panniculitis, Lupus Erythematosus/immunologyABSTRACT
We report on a girl with apparent hypomelanosis of Ito (ITO); cytogenetic studies disclosed the karyotype 46,X,t(X;10)(p11;q11)mat. We present further evidence that at least one of the genetic forms of ITO is located at Xp11; reviewing the clinical characteristics of patients with incontinentia pigmenti type 1 (IP1) and ITO with X-autosome translocations, we suggest that IP1 and ITO represent allelic forms or a contiguous gene syndrome. Thus, different genetic alterations in this region (Xp11) give rise to ITO or IP1 or borderline phenotypes. We also suggest that all patients with ITO, due to Xp11 mutation, have functional or genetic mosaicisms.