Detection of telomerase activity in patients with mycosis fungoides.

OBJECTIVES: To detect telomerase activity in patients with mycosis fungoides (MF) and to study the role of telomerase in the tumorigenesis of MF. METHODS: The technique of PCR-ELISA was employed to detect telomerase activity in 35 patients with various stages of MF. RESULTS: 92.3% tumor stage of MF, 78.6% plaque stage of MF and 75.0% patch stage of MF had positive telomerase activity. The control samples had no telomerase activity. Telomerase activity in tumor stage of MF was significantly higher than that in plaque stage, while the latter was higher than that in patch stage. Telomerase activity was correlated with the stage of MF. CONCLUSION: High level of telomerase activity frequently occurred in patients with MF, suggesting that telomerase might play an important role in the tumorigenesis of MF and is a useful marker for the diagnosis of MF possibly.

Pilomatricoma with a bullous appearance.

BACKGROUND: Pilomatricoma is a benign, cutaneous neoplasm with differentiation toward hair matrix. The tumor is usually a deep-seated, solitary, firm nodule with overlying normal epidermis. Pilomatricoma with a bullous appearance is very rare. METHODS: A 16-year-old Chinese girl with a soft, purplish, translucent bulla on the left shoulder for 6 months and a nodule underlying the bulla is described. RESULTS: The histopathologic findings were consistent with pilomatricoma. There was extraordinary dilation of lymphatic vessels in the overlying dermis, which explains the clinical bullous appearance. The surrounding dermis had an edematous appearance. A Verhoeff-van Gieson stain disclosed the marked reduction of the elastic fibers, and an alcian blue stain was negative. CONCLUSIONS: The patient is diagnosed as bullous variant of pilomatricoma.