[Resistant and progressive cutaneous lupus erythematosus treated with belimumab: A retrospective monocentric study]. / Lupus érythémateux cutanés réfractaires traités par bélimumab : étude descriptive monocentrique.

BACKGROUND: Belimumab is currently approved for the treatment of active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of belimumab in the treatment of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), resistant to conventional therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seven patients with resistant and progressive LEC and treated with belimumab were retrospectively analyzed. The efficacy and safety of belimumab were evaluated with the CLASI, RCLASI and DLQI scores, after 6 to 12 months of treatment. RESULTS: Eighty-three percent of patients demonstrated a significant clinical improvement based on the CLASI and RCLASI activity scores, including 1 complete and 4 partial responses, without worsening of CLASI and RCLASI damage scores. Eighty percent of patients also showed an improvement of their quality of life (DLQI). Oral corticosteroids were discontinued in all patients. Tolerance was acceptable with only one serious adverse event (bacteriema). CONCLUSION: Our study suggests the clinical efficiency of belimumab in a series of 7 patients presenting a resistant and progressive CLE.

[Multiple familial cutaneous leiomyoma]. / Léiomyomes cutanés multiples familiaux.

INTRODUCTION: Cutaneous leiomyoma is a benign tumor, the discovery of which may suggest a hereditary form. We report a family in which 5 generations developed cutaneous and uterine leiomyomas. The originality of this report lies in the large number of generations developing the disease and the association with chronic myeloid leukemia. OBSERVATIONS: We have studied 16 members of a family with cutaneous and uterine leiomyomas spanning five generations. Eight members of the family (6 women and 2 men) presented with cutaneous leiomyomas. All 6 women also had uterine myomas with complications (menometrorrhagia, miscarriage, premature delivery and hysterectomy). Pathological association was also confirmed: polycythemia (1 case), papillary renal carcinoma (1 case) and chronic myeloid leukemia (1 case). DISCUSSION: Piloleiomyoma can develop sporadically or can be transmitted genetically. To our knowledge, we report the fifth case of a family of more than 2 generations presenting with piloleiomyoma. By studying the family tree, we were able to confirm the dominant autosomal nature of the mode of transmission found by other authors. The association of piloleiomyoma and uterine myoma is classified as Reed's syndrome. In such cases, the uterine myoma requires particularly careful monitoring since it is associated with significant risk of gynecological complications (menometrorrhagia, miscarriage, premature delivery and postpartum hemorrhage). Moreover, in our observations we describe diseases associated with piloleiomyoma: polycythemia (1 case), papillary renal carcinoma (1 case), but also the association of piloleiomyoma with chronic myeloid leukemia (1 case). A previous report described the same genetic deletion in uterine myoma as in chronic myeloid leukemia, which gives further weight to this association.

[Cutaneous complications following liver transplantation: epidemiologic and clinical study in 86 patients]. / Manifestations dermatologiques chez les transplantés hépatiques.

INTRODUCTION: Organ transplanted patients exhibit cutaneous lesions caused by immunosuppressive treatment and/or immunosuppression itself. Several selected studies concerning kidney transplants have been reported, but few concerning liver transplants. We report a retrospective study of skin diseases after liver transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHOD: This study was carried out on liver transplanted patients at the University hospital in Besançon since 1986. Eighty six patients were examined between January 1997 and May 1998. Standardized data obtained at the clinical examination and from past history were compiled concerning cutaneous side effects of immunosuppressive treatments as well as infectious and tumoral skin lesions. RESULTS: Cutaneous side effects related to immunosuppressive treatments: 46.5p. 100 of patients exhibited hypertrichosis, 18.5p. 100 gingival hyperplasia, 8.2p. 100 acne, 23.2p. 100 skin atrophy, 13.9p. 100 senile purpura and 17.4p. 100 sebaceous hyperplasia. Infectious diseases were 2 erysipelas, 2 folliculitis, 29 p. 100 of common fungal infections, 13.9p. 100 of mucocutaneous herpes simplex infections, 3p. 100 of zoster, 38.3p. 100 of cutaneous warts (24.4p. 100 of common warts and 7p. 100 of condylomata). Tumoral skin lesions were 17.4p. 100 of actinic keratoses, 13.9p. 100 of skin cancer (7 squamous and 11 basal cell carcinoma). A correlation was shown between time past graft and the occurrence of skin cancer, between actinic keratoses and skin cancer and between common warts and squamous cell carcinoma. DISCUSSION: We have demonstrated that drug induced skin disorders, infections and tumoral skin diseases were similar and as frequent in liver as in kidney transplanted patients. However, a lower frequency of warts was observed in liver transplanted patients as well as a higher frequency of basal cell carcinoma, compared with squamous cell carcinoma. This ratio is reversed in kidney grafted patients. These results suggest that immunosuppression is lower in liver transplanted patients with possible age involvement.

Interleukin-1 alpha increases the preferential cytotoxicity of an interleukin-2-diphtheria toxin fusion protein against neoplastic lymphocytes from patients with the Sezary syndrome compared to normal lymphocytes.

DAB389IL-2 is a recombinant fusion toxin composed of the diphtheria A chain and a protion of the translocating region of the diphtheria B chain, replacing the receptor binding domain with human IL-2. DAB389IL-2 can be safely administered to humans with mycosis fungoides (MF) or Sezary syndrome (SS), and antineoplastic effects occur. This agent binds optimally to the high-affinity IL-2R. The decreased efficiency of uptake by neoplastic cells which do not express the high-affinity IL-2R represents a potential limitation. Treatment of the HUT-78 cutaneous T-cell lymphoma with IL-1 alpha preceding exposure to DAB389IL-2 overcame their resistance to the toxin, IL-1 alpha inducing high-affinity IL-2R expression. Similarly, pretreatment with IL-1 alpha of SS patient lymphocytes demonstrated increased cytotoxicity compared to treatment with the fusion toxin alone. Normal lymphocytes and monocytes were not sensitive to DAB389IL-2 when pretreated with IL-1 alpha, suggesting a differential sensitivity which may be exploited clinically in the treatment of lymphomas.