This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (12)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Dermatology  • Dermatologic Disorders  • Neoplasms  • Hematology/ Hematologic Malignancies  • Leukemias/ Lymphomas  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Clair L. Fletcher, MRCP; Guy E. Orchard, MSc; Virginia Hubbard, MRCP; Sean J. Whittaker, MD, FRCP; Richard L. Edelson, MD; Robin Russell-Jones, MA, FRCP, FRCPath

Arch Dermatol. 2004;140:449-454.

Background  Chronic atopic eczema is not regarded as a precursor of malignancy, and, to our knowledge, there has been only one previous case report of CD30⁺ cutaneous lymphoma in association with atopic dermatitis.

Observations  We report 4 cases of CD30⁺ lymphoproliferative disease in young adult patients with active atopic eczema dating from early childhood. Three patients developed primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma, of whom 2 developed systemic disease and 1 died. The other patient developed lymphomatoid papulosis type A, which resolved after withdrawal of cyclosporine therapy. No other patient had received immunosuppressive therapy. Three had been treated with phototherapy, and 2 of these patients exhibited positive immunostaining for p53 within a proportion of the tumor cell population.

Conclusions  Although we have not been able to establish a causative link, we believe that the association of these 2 conditions has not occurred by chance. Biopsies of lesional skin from subjects with atopic eczema exhibit a proportion of CD30 cells, and clonal transformation of this subpopulation might account for the CD30⁺ lymphomas in our patients.

From the Skin Tumour Unit (Drs Fletcher, Whittaker, and Russell-Jones), and Department of Dermatopathology (Mr Orchard), St John's Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas' Hospital, and Department of Dermatology, The Royal Free Hospital (Dr Hubbard), London, England; and the Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn (Dr Edelson). The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Fatal Cytotoxic Cutaneous Lymphoma Presenting as Ulcerative Psoriasis
Weenig et al.
Arch Dermatol 2009;145:801-808.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

CD30+ Cutaneous Lymphoma Reported in Patients with Long-Standing Atopic Eczema
Journal Watch Dermatology 2004;2004:3-3.
FULL TEXT