Hypopigmented Mycosis Fungoides: What Lies Behind the Clinical Findings?

Melanocyte degeneration is characteristic of this clinical variant.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) has a wide range of clinical presentations. Some clinical variants are associated with characteristic immunophenotypes. Researchers explored the significance of melanocytes in one such variant, hypopigmented MF (HMF).

They compared hypopigmented lesions and normal skin from 18 HMF patients (median age, 41.5 years; 2:1 women) and nonhypopigmented lesions from 8 patients with conventional MF. Neoplastic immunophenotyping and melanocyte immunostaining showed that the CD8+ immunophenotype was significantly more common in HMF than in conventional MF (14 of 18 specimens vs. 1 of 8). Staining showed significant decreases in the markers Melan-A, tyrosinase, and MiTF-1 and its modulator CD117 in hypopigmented HMF lesions compar…

Reviewing Author

Angelica Maria Selim, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support NIH/NCI, The Plastic Surgery Foundation

Angelica Maria Selim, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support NIH/NCI, The Plastic Surgery Foundation

Hypopigmented Mycosis Fungoides: What Lies Behind the Clinical Findings?

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Reviewing Author