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Biopsies were taken from the upper and inner arm of 10 60-year-old male cigarette smokers and compared with 10 age-matched controls who were non-smokers. The mean relative area, number and thickness of the elastic fibres were significantly increased in the cigarette smokers compared to the controls. These results were confirmed using antibodies to elastin or the microflbrillar component of elastic tissue. In the smokers the broader and more fragmented elastic fibres in the skin were not as intensely stained as those of the non-smokers and the ultrastructural alterations of the elastic fibres were similar to those in solar elastosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We looked for evidence of a Borrelia infection in 15 patients with morphoea. We were not able to detect antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in any of these 15 patients. None of the 14 skin biopsies examined by immunohistochemistry showed evidence of spirochaetes. Skin biopsies were cultured in 10 patients. All were negative. These results do not support a spirocbaetal origin of localized scleroderma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tripe palms are thickened, moss-like or velvety textured exaggerations of the normal dermatoglyphics. The disease belongs to the spectrum of papulosquamous paraneoplastic syndromes. Although suspected, the role of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) has not been clearly established. A 54-year-old man with systemic mastocytosis presented with thickening and darkening of the palms and soles. We performed skin biopsies for light microscopy (including toluidine blue), in situ hybridization and double labelling, and determination of serum tryptase, histamine and TGF-alpha levels. Toluidine blue stained the mast cells that had massively infiltrated the dermis. Tripe palm samples showed extensive hyperkeratosis. The TGF-alpha probe reacted strongly with the mast cells that also reacted with the antitryptase monoclonal antibody. Elevated tryptase, histamine and TGF-alpha levels prior to interferon-alfa administration decreased under treatment. The demonstration of TGF-alpha in infiltrating mast cells, the clinical regression of tripe palms and the lowering of the serum level and the mast cell molecular signal of the cytokine when systemic mastocytosis was controlled by interferon-alfa, suggest a key role for TGF-alpha in this cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome.

Skin biopsies were taken from 11 patients with morphoea, nine with acrosclerosis and 10 with diffuse systemic sclerosis and processed for immunohistochemical studies using a panel of monoclonal antibodies including antibodies to MHC class II antigens. A significantly higher percentage of HLA-DR positive dermal cells were observed in the reticular dermis in biopsies from patients with morphoea (44.1 +/- 16.2%), acrosclerosis (15.9 +/- 5.4%) and systemic sclerosis (39.5 +/- 2.3%) when compared with the controls (6.6 +/- 2%). A smaller percentage of dermal cells also expressed HLA-DP and -DQ. The degree of monocnuclear cell infiltrate in the biopsies, however, did not correlate with the percentage of HLA class II positive fibroblasts. In organ culture, the expression of the HLA class II antigens was almost totally lost after 3 days and was no longer detected on fibroblasts after 3 weeks of culture.