Spectrum of cutaneous lupus erythematosus in South Africans with systemic lupus erythematosus

Dermatology in black skin

The vast majority of publications in dermatology refer to lightly pigmented skin, with few addressing the peculiarities of black skin. In addition there is no consensus on what it means to be black in different regions of the world. The lack of knowledge on the subject makes it difficult to recognize and manage dermatoses in this type of skin. This article aims to review the literature on intrinsic characteristics, as well as epidemiological and clinical aspects of the cutaneous manifestations of different dermatoses in black skin. It was found that there are sometimes striking differences, in the structural, biological, and functional aspects when comparing lightly pigmented and black skin. There are also physiological changes that need to be recognized to avoid unnecessary interventions. Some dermatoses have a higher incidence in black skin, such as acne, eczema, dyschromia and dermatophytosis. On the other hand, several dermatoses are more specific to black skin, such as pseudofolliculitis barbae, keloid, dermatosis papulosa nigra, ulcers caused by sickle-cell anemia, dactylolysis spontanea, confluent and reticulated papillomatosis of Gougerot and Carteaud, and some diseases of the hair and scalp (including fragile and brittle hair, traction alopecia, folliculitis keloidalis nuchae, folliculitis dissecans and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia). A spectrum of peculiar aspects of specific dermatoses, including sarcoidosis, lichen planus (with emphasis on the pigmentosus variant), psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, vitiligo, syphilis, pityriasis versicolor, and neoplasms are highlighted. In the latter, characteristics of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma are compared, in addition to highlighting unusual aspects of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, endemic Kaposi sarcoma, and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

Epidemiology and demographics of cutaneous lupus erythematosus in Colombia between 2015 and 2019

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is classified into three groups - acute, subacute, and chronic - based on clinical and histopathological characteristics. The risk of systemic manifestations varies among these groups. There are few studies on CLE epidemiology. For this reason, this paper aims to describe CLE prevalence and demographics in Colombia between 2015 and 2019. This descriptive, cross-sectional study used the international classification of diseases, tenth revision, for CLE subtypes, utilizing official data from the Colombian Ministry of Health. In people older than 19 years, 26,356 CLE cases were registered, yielding a prevalence of 76 cases per 100,000 population. CLE was more frequent in females, at a 5:1 ratio compared to males. The most common clinical presentation was discoid lupus erythematosus, in 45% of cases. The majority of cases occurred in people between 55 and 59 years old. This is the first study that describes CLE demographics in adults in Colombia. Findings regarding clinical subtypes and female predominance are consistent with those in the medical literature.

Cutaneous manifestations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: Forms at the beginning of the disease and during follow-up. Retrospective analysis

OBJECTIVES

To describe skin involvement (SI) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at onset and during follow-up of the disease and to determine factors associated with SI at lupus diagnosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective, observational, and descriptive study, from a single centre in patients diagnosed with SLE (ACR 1982-97 or SLICC 2012 criteria). The modified Gilliam classification for SI was used. Descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed to evaluate the factors associated with SI at diagnosis of the disease.

RESULTS

149 patients were included, 91.3% women with a median age at diagnosis of 33 years. SI at onset of the disease occurred in 125 patients (83.9%), followed by joint involvement in 120 cases (80.5%). Non-specific skin lesions were more frequent than specific lesions, 92.8% versus 66.4%, respectively. In the bivariate analysis, a longer delay to diagnosis, the presence of joint involvement, a lower presence of thrombocytopenia, and a higher SLEDAI-2K score were associated with the presence of SI at onset of the disease. In the multivariate analysis, the variable that remained independently associated was joint involvement (OR 2.8%-95% CI 1.1-7.5, p: .04). During follow-up, 4/24 patients who had not presented SI at diagnosis and 51/125 patients who had, had at least one new skin flare (range: 1-5 outbreaks).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates the high frequency of skin involvement in SLE, both diagnostically and evolutionarily, and confirms previously reported data regarding the existence of a skin-articular phenotype.

Blue Nail Discoloration: Literature Review and Diagnostic Algorithms

Blue nail discoloration is a distinctive clinical presentation, and diagnosis is challenging given the broad differential diagnosis. A comprehensive review of the literature describing blue discoloration of one or multiple nails was performed using the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. A total of 245 publications were included and grouped based on involvement of a single nail (monodactylic) or multiple nails (polydactylic). Monodactylic blue discoloration was associated with tumors or benign nevi, most commonly glomus tumors, followed by blue nevi and less commonly melanomas. Polydactylic blue discoloration was frequently associated with medications (such as minocycline, zidovudine, and hydroxyurea), toxic and exogenous exposures (such as silver), and other medical conditions (such as HIV/AIDS and systemic lupus erythematous). Patients presenting with blue nail discoloration warrant a thorough history, physical examination, and workup to rule out malignancy, systemic disease, or toxic exposure. We present diagnostic algorithms for monodactylic and polydactylic blue nail discoloration to guide workup and treatment plans.

Panoramic view of clinical features of lupus erythematosus: a cross-sectional multicentre study from China

OBJECTIVE

Lupus erythematosus (LE) is a complicated disease with highly heterogeneous clinical manifestations. Previous studies have rarely included all subgroups of patients with lupus and have overlooked the importance of the cutaneous manifestations thereof. We aimed to compare the demographic and clinical differences among patients with different subtypes of lupus.

METHODS

This is the first real-world study with a relatively large sample size that simultaneously includes patients with isolated cutaneous lupus erythematosus (iCLE) and SLE. All samples were obtained from the Lupus Erythematosus Multicenter Case-control Study in Chinese populations (LEMCSC) (registration number: ChiCTR2100048939). Comparative analyses between different LE subgroups were performed.

RESULTS

A total of 2097 patients with lupus were included, with 1865 patients with SLE, 1648 with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), and 232 with iCLE. Among the patients with CLE, 1330 had acute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (ACLE); 160 had subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE); and 546 had chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CCLE). The study included a relatively large number of patients with CCLE subtypes, including 311 with discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE), 262 with chilblain lupus erythematosus (CHLE) and 45 with lupus erythematosus profundus (LEP). Demographic characteristics, systemic involvement, mucocutaneous manifestations and autoantibodies were significantly different among the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

CLE and iCLE are two distinct disease states, and the selection of broad or narrow CLE definitions should be emphasised in scientific reports. LE-non-specific cutaneous lesions imply more severity, while self-reported photosensitivity and LE-specific cutaneous manifestations imply milder severity. Generalised ACLE appears to be a more severe state than localised ACLE, and CHLE appears to be more severe than DLE. Anti-Sjögren's syndrome-related antigen B (SSB) antibodies have higher specific directivity than anti-Sjögren's syndrome-related antigen A (SSA) antibodies for SCLE lesions. Anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies have a higher co-occurrence with ACLE and a lower co-occurrence with SCLE and CCLE. Compared with DLE, CHLE has significantly higher positive rates of anti-SSA/Ro60 (71%) and anti-SSA/Ro52 (42.4%) antibodies, whereas LEP is associated with a higher positive rate of antinucleosome antibodies (31.1%).

Pregnancy-related complications in systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune inflammatory disease that predominantly affects women of childbearing age and results in various adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). Pregnancy was formerly discouraged in patients with SLE because of unstable disease activity during the gestation period, increased thrombosis risk, severe organ damage, and inevitable side effects of immunosuppressive agents. Currently, most patients with SLE have successful pregnancies due to preconception counselling, strict monitoring, and improved therapy with minimised complications for both the mother and foetus. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is extensively used and is beneficial for improving pregnancy outcomes. However, pregnant women with SLE have a high-risk of APOs, such as disease flare, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), preeclampsia, and pregnancy loss. Better understanding of the changes in maternal immunity and serum biomarkers, as well as their relationships with SLE-related APOs progression, would facilitate the investigation of molecular mechanisms for triggering and ameliorating APOs. Furthermore, it would enable us to explore and develop novel and effective therapeutic strategies to prevent disease activation. Therefore, this review briefly introduces the interaction between pregnancy outcomes and SLE, elucidates pathophysiological and immunological changes during SLE pregnancy. Furthermore, this review systematically expounds on the effective predictors of APOs and the molecular mechanisms underlying the SLE-related APOs to provide a solid foundation for the advanced management of lupus pregnancy.

Using Gene Expression Analysis to Understand Complex Autoimmune Skin Disease Patients: A Series of Four Canine Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Cases

Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (CLE) is an autoimmune skin disease that occurs in almost two-thirds of people with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and can exist as its own entity. Despite its negative impact on the quality of life of patients, lupus pathogenesis is not fully understood. In recent years, the role of gene expression analysis has become important in understanding cellular functions and disease causation within and across species. Interestingly, dogs also develop CLE, providing a spontaneous animal model of disease. Here, we present a targeted transcriptomic analysis of skin biopsies from a case series of four dogs with complex autoimmunity with suspected CLE. We identified 92 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including type 1 interferon, B cell, and T cell-related genes, in the four cases compared to healthy skin margin controls. Additionally, we compared our results with existing CLE datasets from humans and mice and found that humans and canines share 49 DEGs, whereas humans and mice shared only 25 DEGs in our gene set. Immunohistochemistry of IFNG and CXCL10, two of the most highly upregulated inflammatory mediators, confirmed protein-level expression and revealed immune cells as the primary source of CXCL10 in dogs with SLE, whereas keratinocytes stained strongly for CXCL10 in dogs without SLE. We propose that gene expression analysis may aid the diagnosis of complex autoimmune skin diseases and that dogs may provide important insights into CLE and SLE pathogeneses, or more broadly, skin manifestations during systemic autoimmunity.

Dermatologic Manifestations, Histologic Features and Disease Progression among Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Subtypes: A Prospective Observational Study in Asians

Introduction

Cutaneous manifestations are central to the primary diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, information on the clinical, histopathologic, and direct immunofluorescence (DIF) features among subtypes of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), as well as longitudinal prospective observational study to evaluate the natural history and the progression to SLE, is lacking among Asians. Our objectives are to summarize the differences in the clinical, histopathologic, and DIF characteristics and serological profiles between various subtypes of CLE, and to provide its natural history and the association with disease activity in our Asian population.

Methods

A prospective observational study on CLE patients was performed between May 2016 and May 2020. Patients underwent full physical/dermatologic examination, skin biopsy for histology, and DIF. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) scores and laboratory data were evaluated. Time schedule and characteristics for resolution and/or the disease progression to SLE were recorded in subsequent follow-ups.

Results

Of 101 biopsy-proven CLE patients, 25 had acute CLE (ACLE), 8 had subacute CLE (SCLE), 39 had chronic CLE (CCLE) only, 22 had CCLE with SLE, and 7 had LE-nonspecific cutaneous lesions only. Patients with exclusive CLE showed lower female preponderance, serological abnormalities, and correlation to systemic disease. However, when CLE was accompanied with any LE-nonspecific cutaneous manifestations, they were associated with high antinuclear antibody (ANA) titer, renal, hematologic, joint involvement, and greater SLEDAI score. Of 207 biopsy sections, SCLE/CCLE regardless of systemic involvement showed significantly higher percentage of superficial/deep perivascular and perieccrine infiltration than ACLE. On DIF, deposition of multiple immunoreactants was associated with higher systemic disease. Approximately 10% of CLE-only patients later developed SLE but had mild systemic involvement.

Conclusion

Our findings support that each CLE subtype has a diverse and unique character. Comprehensive understanding of the differences among CLE subtypes is important for achieving the correct diagnosis and providing appropriate disease monitoring and management.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13555-020-00471-y.

Systemic sclerosis in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Systematic studies on connective tissue disorders are scarce in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim was to analyse the published clinical data on systemic sclerosis (SSc) in sub-Saharan Africa. A systematic review was carried out in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. We screened the Embase, PubMed and African Health Sciences databases for literature published until March 2018. Searches produced 1210 publications. After abstract and full-text screenings, 91 publications were analysed, and epidemiological information and clinical features extracted. Publications were mostly publications case reports (36%), cross-sectional studies (26%) and case series (23%) and came predominantly from South Africa (45%), Nigeria (15%) and Senegal (14%). A total of 1884 patients were reported, 66% of patients came from South Africa. The patients were between 4 and 77 years old; 83% of patients were female. Overall, 72% had diffuse SSc. Raynaud´s phenomenon was reported in 78% and skin ulcerations in 42% of patients. Focal skin hypopigmentation was common and telangiectasia not frequent. Interstitial lung involvement was reported in 50%, pulmonary hypertension in 30%, heart involvement in 28% of patients. Oesophageal reflux was observed in 70% and dysphagia in 37% of patients. Antinuclear antibodies were positive in 65% of patients. Anti-centromere autoantibodies (9.2%) and RNA polymerase 3 antibodies (7.1%) were rare and anti-fibrillarin most frequent (16.5%). SSc presentations in sub-Saharan Africa differ from those reported in Europe and America by a frequent diffuse skin involvement, focal skin hypopigmentation and a high prevalence of anti-fibrillarin autoantibodies.

Suspected inflammatory rheumatic diseases in patients presenting with skin rashes

Skin lesions occur, often at very early stages, in many of the most frequent inflammatory rheumatic diseases such as in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), dermatomyositis (DM), systemic sclerosis (SSc), Sjögren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and psoriatic arthritis. It is important to recognize the different specific cutaneous lesions in SLE (e.g., "butterfly" rash in acute, annular or psoriasiform photosensitive lesions in the subacute form, and discoid lesions in the chronic form) for an early diagnosis and to estimate the associated risks of internal disease, whereas nonspecific lesions (exanthema, vasculitis, and alopecia) can be part of SLE flares. Cutaneous lesions in DM (Gottron's papules and sign, heliotrope rash, dystrophic cuticles, and nailfold capillary abnormalities) may occur before any clinically evident muscular or systemic organ involvement and are of utmost importance for early diagnosis. The pattern of cutaneous lesions and associated autoantibodies also allow the distinction of different phenotypes, either more prone to life-threatening interstitial lung disease (MDA-5) or with higher risk for neoplasia (TIF1-γ). Many other skin lesions, although not specific, require further investigation to look for a possible underlying inflammatory rheumatic disease: non-pruritic urticarial lesions in anti-C1q-associated urticarial vasculitis, Still's disease or hereditary auto-inflammatory syndromes, transient macular purpura of vasculitis in Sjögren's syndrome, Behçet's disease, or RA, Raynaud's phenomenon in SSc and mixed connective tissue disease, erythema nodosum or other panniculitis in RA, Behçet's disease and SLE, pustular eruptions in Behçet's disease, psoriasis, and hereditary auto-inflammatory syndromes. After reviewing in detail the cutaneous manifestations of the most frequent inflammatory rheumatic diseases, we describe a topographic and morphological approach to skin rashes, calling attention to facial rashes, hand involvement, scalp, nail, or leg lesions or to some morphological aspects of skin lesions (annular, pustular, urticarial, or exanthematous) that may be the initial manifestations of inflammatory rheumatic diseases. The importance of skin lesions is confirmed by their presence as part of the classification criteria of many inflammatory rheumatic diseases. They also contribute to early diagnosis, to characterize disease phenotypes, to aid in effective patient management, and, ultimately, to impact on disease prognosis.