Mary Ruth Buchness

Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Treatment with ultraviolet B phototherapy.

EOSINOPHILIC pustular folliculitis is a rare pruritic dermatosis1 that has only recently been reported in patients from the United States.2 3 4 5 6 The eruption is characterized by sterile pruritic...

Diagnosis of Acanthamoeba infection by cutaneous manifestations in a man seropositive to HIV

A case of Acanthamoeba infection with cutaneous manifestations in a man seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus is reported. The diagnosis was made by identification of amoebic trophozoites and cysts in tissue specimens. Two other cases of disseminated Acanthamoeba infection with similar skin findings in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome have been previously reported. Recognition of the cutaneous manifestations of acanthamoebiasis in patients seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus may lead to earlier diagnosis and improved therapy.

Photosensitivity, abnormal porphyrin profile, and sideroblastic anemia***

Cutaneous photosensitivity in a 43-year-old man with idiopathic sideroblastic anemia associated with an abnormal porphyrin profile is reported. This condition was associated with elevated free erythrocyte porphyrin, plasma protoporphyrin, urine porphyrins (predominantly coproporphyrin), stool porphyrins (predominantly protoporphyrin), decreased ferrochelatase activity, and deletion of portions of the long arms of chromosomes 18 and 20. Five other patients with sideroblastic anemia and abnormal porphyrin profiles have been described; all but one of these patients had photosensitivity. The porphyrin profile of this patient is similar to that of three other previously described patients.

Chronic actinic dermatitis. An immunohistochemical study of its T-cell antigenic profile, with comparison to cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) describes a persistent photosensitivity disorder in the absence of continued exposure to photosensitizers; it is characterized by a T-cell infiltrate within the epidermis and dermis. The purpose of this study was to characterize the T-cell infiltrate better immunohistochemically. Serial cryostat sections of fresh-frozen punch biopsy specimens of skin were analyzed in 11 patients with CAD and 3 patients with erythrodermic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Monoclonal antibodies against the pan T-cell, pan B-cell, and T-cell subsets and the T cell-receptor (TCR) antigens were used. CD8-positive (T-suppressor-cytotoxic) cells were predominant in the epidermis of CAD, while CD4-positive (T-helper) cells were predominant in the epidermis and dermis of CTCL. CDw29-positive (T-memory) cells were predominant in all cases. The number of BF1 (beta-chain constant region of the TCR)-positive cells approximated the number of CD3-positive cells in all CAD cases but was significantly lower than the number of CD3-positive cells in two of three cases of CTCL. There was no clustering or preferential staining with any of the beta-chain variable-region antibodies in any of the specimens. These results indicate that CAD has a characteristic immunophenotype distinct from that of most cases of CTCL and that discordance between BF1 and CD3 expressions did not occur in the CAD cases.