An 8-year follow-up of IgG4-related skin disease presented with generalized ALHE-like eruptions: successful treatment of glucocorticoid and cyclophosphamide

Immunoglobulin gamma (IgG) type 4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a chronic immunologic systemic disorder that could affect multiple organs, which may cause irreversible organ damage or even death. Skin involvement is rare and associated especially with systemic disease. The dermatologist must be equipped to recognize IgG4-RD to prevent delayed identification and treatment. This case reports a very rare case of IgG4-related skin disease (IgG4-RSD) presenting with a generalized angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE)-like lesions in a middle-aged male patient with no other organ involvement. He was treated with oral glucocorticoid and cyclophosphamide, which resulted in complete remission. No relapse and disease progression were seen with a follow-up for 8 years.

Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease, Lymphadenopathy, and Lymphoma

Lymphadenopathy occurring in patients with immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease, termed IgG4-related lymphadenopathy, shows morphologic heterogeneity and overlap with other nonspecific causes of lymphadenopathy including infections, immune-related disorders, and neoplasms. This review describes the characteristic histopathologic features and diagnostic approach to IgG4-related disease and IgG4-related lymphadenopathy, with comparison to nonspecific causes of increased IgG4-positive plasma cells in lymph nodes, and with emphasis on distinction from IgG4-expressing lymphoproliferative disorders.

Kimura Disease of the Thigh Treated With Surgical Excision and Dupilumab

ABSTRACT

Kimura disease (KD) is a rare, chronic inflammatory disorder presenting with solitary or multiple masses. Treatment options include surgical excision, corticosteroids, and radiotherapy; however, optimal therapy remains to be established. Moreover, efficacy of a humanized monoclonal antibody, dupilumab (Dupixent), requires to be demonstrated. Here, we present a 36-year-old male patient with an enlarging mass in the left medial thigh and chronic eczema over the abdomen and lower legs. Kimura disease was diagnosed after surgical excision. Postoperative treatment with dupilumab was applied with an initial dose of 600 mg followed by 300 mg every 2 weeks for 8 months. No recurrence of KD was observed in the 1-year follow-up. The eczematous lesions improved greatly. To our knowledge, this is the first report of using dupilumab for treating KD.

Angiolymphoid Hyperplasia with Eosinophilia with Clinical Presentation Concerning for Juvenile Temporal Arteritis

A 20-year-old boy presented with a mass superotemporal to the right eyebrow of 1 month's duration without a history of recent trauma. Complete examination and workup, including laboratory analysis, Doppler ultrasound imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging, suggested a diagnosis of juvenile temporal arteritis. Excisional biopsy and histopathology contradicted the preoperative workup and yielded the final diagnosis of angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia, a rare eosinophilic dermatosis of unknown etiology. This case highlights the need for better characterization of temporal vascular tumors in the pediatric population.

Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia and Kimura disease overlap, with evidence of diffuse visceral involvement

A relationship between Kimura disease (KD) and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE) has been debated. Given substantial clinical and histological overlap, these entities were once considered to represent a disease spectrum; however, they are now widely considered to be nosologically distinct. A diagnosis of either condition is further complicated by resemblance to various malignancies, which must be carefully excluded. Coexistence of ALHE and KD in a patient is extremely rare, with only four cases reported in the English literature. We report what is to our knowledge the first case of ALHE and KD overlap with evidence of diffuse visceral involvement.

IgG4-related skin disease may have distinct systemic manifestations: a systematic review

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an increasingly prevalent protean multisystem disorder characterized by single or multi-organ infiltration of IgG4-bearing plasma cells. Skin involvement has been recognized and is relevant to proper diagnosis. A systematic literature review of 50 cases involving the skin reveals that patients with IgG4-related skin disease show predominant involvement of the head and neck and have a distinct pattern of systemic involvement, also favoring the head and neck - lymphatics, orbit, salivary, and lacrimal glands - but generally lacking pancreaticobiliary involvement (16% of cases), which by contrast is a predominant manifestation in systemic IgG4-RD (60% with pancreaticobiliary involvement). We summarize clinical and pathologic descriptive data from this systematic review. We review differential diagnosis and propose a diagnostic scheme for stratifying probability of disease based upon comprehensive integration of clinical, histopathologic, and laboratory data. Plasmacyte infiltration and storiform fibrosis are prominent in IgG4-related skin disease, but obliterative venulitis is less common than in the prototypical IgG4-related disease manifestation of autoimmune pancreatitis. IgG4 tissue and serum values, with a mean (±95% CI) in the reviewed cases of 132.8 ± 32.6 IgG4-positive plasma cells per high-power field and 580 ± 183.8 mg/dl, respectively, are incorporated into the suggested criteria. The distinct set of manifestations identified by this systematic review and the proposed diagnostic considerations, while requiring further validation in prospective studies, highlight the need to consider that IgG4-related skin disease defines a unique systemic disease complex along the spectrum of IgG4-RD.

Diagnostically Challenging Epithelioid Vascular Tumors

The diagnosis of vascular tumors is a challenging area in soft tissue pathology. Epithelioid vascular tumors pose a particular challenge. Due to the epithelioid morphology of the tumor cells, they can be misdiagnosed as a variety of other entities, including metastatic carcinoma or epithelioid sarcoma. Furthermore, it can be difficult to distinguish between different epithelioid vascular tumors. This review focuses on vascular tumors characterized by epithelioid endothelial cells, including epithelioid hemangioma, cutaneous epithelioid angiomatous nodule, epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, epithelioid sarcomalike hemangioendothelioma/pseudomyogenic hemangioendothelioma, and epithelioid angiosarcoma.

The changing faces of IgG4-related disease: Clinical manifestations and pathogenesis

Since the earliest reports in 2001, immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease has been defined as an autoimmune systemic disease characterized by the lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of affected tissues leading to fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis along with elevated serum IgG4 levels. Prior to this unifying hypothesis, a plethora of clinical manifestations were considered as separate entities despite the similar laboratory profile. The pathology can be observed in virtually all organs and may thus be a challenging diagnosis, especially when the adequate clinical suspicion is not present or when obtaining a tissue biopsy is not feasible. Nonetheless, the most frequently involved organs are the pancreas and exocrine glands but these may be spared. Immunosuppressants lead to a prompt clinical response in virtually all cases and prevent histological sequelae and, as a consequence, an early differential diagnosis from other conditions, particularly infections and cancer, as well as an early treatment should be pursued. We describe herein two cases in which atypical disease manifestations were observed, i.e., one with recurrent neck lymph node enlargement and proptosis, and one with jaundice. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of IgG4-related disease is largely incomplete but data support a significant role for Th2 cytokines with the contribution of innate immunity factors such as Toll-like receptors, macrophages and basophils. Further, macrophages activated by IL4 overexpress B cell activating factors and contribute to chronic inflammation and the development of fibrosis. We cannot rule out the possibility that the largely variable disease phenotypes reflect different pathogenetic mechanisms and the tissue microenvironment may then contribute to the organ involvement.

Dermatologic disorders in 118 patients with autoimmune (immunoglobulin G4-related) pancreatitis: a retrospective cohort analysis

BACKGROUND

Autoimmune pancreatitis is the prototypical manifestation of immunoglobulin G4-related disease, a fibroinflammatory syndrome that can affect virtually any organ. Rarely, skin involvement has been reported in immunoglobulin G4-related disease. Isolated case reports have described other distinct associated dermatoses.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to determine the frequency and nature of dermatologic manifestations of immunoglobulin G4-related disease in patients with autoimmune pancreatitis.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of dermatologic conditions of patients with autoimmune pancreatitis.

RESULTS

Among the 118 identified patients, 31 (26.3%) had a dermatologic diagnosis [mean (standard deviation; SD) follow-up 5.9 (4.6) years]. Two patients (1.7%) had necrobiotic xanthogranuloma; three (2.5%) had another xanthomatous or xanthogranulomatous process. One patient (0.8%) had pemphigus erythematosus. No patient had immunoglobulin G4-related skin disease.

CONCLUSION

Skin involvement in immunoglobulin G4-related disease appears to be rare. A disproportionately high number of patients had xanthomatous or xanthogranulomatous processes, including necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. It remains unclear whether the association between immunoglobulin G4-related disease and necrobiotic xanthogranuloma or other xantho(granulo)matous processes represents shared pathophysiology, a mutual underlying driver, or coincidence, though the results of this study cast doubt on the latter. Although pemphigus was not reported in immunoglobulin G4-related disease previously, the prominent role of the immunoglobulin G4 subclass in each condition makes this association intriguing.

Investigations of IgG4-related disease involving the skin

OBJECTIVES

IgG4-related skin disease is not widely recognized. This prompted us to investigate the clinical and pathological features of five patients we encountered with IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) affecting the skin.

METHODS

We investigated the clinical and pathological features of these five patients, including the distribution, onset, and morphology of eruptions, their pathological and immunohistochemical characteristics, and the occurrence of disease in other organs.

RESULTS

The skin lesions were typically erythematous nodules and papules and brown papules like prurigo nodularis, which developed on the face or in the head and neck areas in four patients. Skin lesions were the first clinical manifestation in three patients. All five patients had sialadenitis and/or dacryoadenitis. The mean serum IgG4 concentration was 665.6 ± 410.0 mg/dl. Infiltrations of IgG4-positive plasma cells were observed in both the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. Germinal center formations were seen in three patients. Mild to moderate fibrosis was observed in all patients, and focal obliterative phlebitis in one. The average count of IgG4-positive cells was 67.3/high-power field (23.0-128.6). Wide variation in the numbers of infiltrating IgG4-positive cells was noted.

CONCLUSION

IgG4-RD appears to have a distinctive clinicopathological presentation in the skin, differentiating it from other cutaneous disorders.

[What's new in clinical dermatology?]

Medical articles published between September 2011 and September 2012 were selected based on themes related to clinical dermatology. Therapeutics, pediatrics, oncology, sexually transmitted diseases, and major system diseases such as sarcoidosis and connective tissue disease were not retained. The subjects reviewed were: (i) epidemiology, particularly the risks of exposure to infectious agents; (ii) diagnostic tools, dominated by dermoscopy and teledermatology; (iii) the description of new disorders and the reassessment of older diseases; (iv) complementary tests in certain types of dermatosis; (v) a few large "works in progress" in dermatology, where clinical aspects and biological research intertwine and contribute one to the other.

Biliary manifestations of systemic diseases

Patients with a variety of systemic diseases may present with clinical indications of biliary tract disorders. This article describes a group of systemic conditions associated with bile duct abnormalities and the role of endoscopic therapy in their diagnosis and management.

IgG4-related diseases

Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a fascinating condition recognised as a systemic disease in 2003 [1,2]. The first link between autoimmunity affecting the pancreas, elevated serum IgG4 concentrations and large numbers of IgG4-positive plasma cells in pancreatic tissue was described only 2 years earlier [3]. Since then, many diseases that have long been viewed organ-specific are now considered within the spectrum of IgG4-RD. Practically any organ can be affected, having in common a key pathological feature consisting in dense lymphocyte and plasma cell infiltrate rich in IgG4-positive plasma cells, storiform fibrosis and often an elevated serum IgG4 concentration. While good clinical response to steroid therapy is observed, immunosuppressive or B-cell depleting therapy can be required. It is important to distinguish the IgG4-RD from traditional organ-specific autoimmune disease to guide therapy.

Orbital follicular hyperplasia in common variable immune deficiency syndrome

Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) is characterized by reduced serum immune globulins and impaired or absent antibody responses. Patients become more susceptible to infections and to lymphoproliferation and granulomatous inflammation. Ophthalmic manifestations of CVID are rare. The authors describe a case of orbital follicular hyperplasia in a 15-year-old girl with CVID syndrome causing proptosis and exposure keratopathy.