Factors Associated With Short-term Relapse in Patients With Pemphigus Who Receive Rituximab as First-line Therapy: A Post Hoc Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Rituximab and short-term corticosteroid therapy are the criterion standard treatments for patients with newly diagnosed moderate to severe pemphigus.

Objective: To examine factors associated with short-term relapse in patients with pemphigus treated with rituximab.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This post hoc analysis of a randomized clinical trial (Comparison Between Rituximab Treatment and Oral Corticosteroid Treatment in Patients With Pemphigus [RITUX 3]) conducted from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2015, included patients from 20 dermatology departments of tertiary care centers in France from the RITUX 3 trial and 3 newly diagnosed patients treated according to the trial protocol.

Photodermatitis from topical phenothiazines: A case series.

Background: In Europe, contact photosensitivity to phenothiazines is well-known, particularly in southern countries. Topical phenothiazines are widely used and sold over-the-counter (OTC) for the treatment of mosquito bites and pruritus in France.

Objective: To report a series of cases with photodermatitis following use of topical phenothiazines.

Higher Frequency of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitor Intake in Bullous Pemphigoid Patients than in the French General Population.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors have been suspected to induce bullous pemphigoid (BP). The objective of this study was to compare the observed frequency of gliptin intake in a large sample of 1,787 BP patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2015 in France, with the expected frequency after indirect age standardization on 225,412 individuals extracted from the database of the National Healthcare Insurance Agency. The secondary objective was to assess the clinical characteristics and the course of gliptin-associated BP, depending on whether gliptin was continued or stopped.

Large International Validation of ABSIS and PDAI Pemphigus Severity Scores.

The Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) and Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity-Score (ABSIS) scores have been proposed to provide an objective measure of pemphigus activity. These scores have been evaluated only on already treated patients mainly with mild to moderate activity. The objective was to assess the interrater reliability of ABSIS and PDAI scores and their correlation with other severity markers in a large international study.

Airborne allergic contact dermatitis caused by isothiazolinones in water-based paints: a retrospective study of 44 cases.

Background: Airborne allergic contact dermatitis caused by paints containing isothiazolinones has been recognized as a health hazard.

Objectives: To collect epidemiological, clinical and patch test data on airborne allergic contact dermatitis caused by isothiazolinone-containing paints in France and Belgium.

Methods: A descriptive, retrospective study was initiated by the Dermatology and Allergy Group of the French Society of Dermatology, including methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI)/methylisothiazolinone (MI)- and/or MI-sensitized patients who developed airborne allergic contact dermatitis following exposure to isothiazolinone-containing paint.

A high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a potential marker of mortality in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma: A retrospective study.

Background: The prognostic relevance of a high blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported in many cancers, although, to our knowledge, not investigated in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) to date.

Objective: We assessed whether the NLR at baseline was associated with specific survival and recurrence-free survival in MCC.

Methods: We retrospectively included MCC cases between 1999 and 2015 and collected clinical data, blood cell count at baseline, and outcome.

Development of monoclonal gammopathy under biotherapy in psoriasis: a French multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Biotherapies or targeted therapies are fairly new treatments indicated for moderate to severe psoriasis. The side effects appear to be mainly infectious or cancerous. The role of biotherapies in the development of a pre-cancerous condition, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), has recently been debated in the literature.

Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions with Antimalarials and Allergological Skin Tests.

Background: Currently used antimalarial drugs (AM) are hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are prescribed for many autoimmune disorders. The value of skin tests on cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADR) with AM remains unknown.

Objective: The main objective of this retrospective study is to know whether skin tests for AM are useful and how to manage the recovery of AM therapy in these patients.

Somatostatin Receptors 2A and 5 Are Expressed in Merkel Cell Carcinoma with No Association with Disease Severity.

Background/aims: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare high-grade neuroendocrine tumour of the skin. It has been speculated that MCCs express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs), but this has never been assessed in a large series of MCCs. The main aim of this study was to assess the expression of SSTR2A and SSTR5 in MCC tumours.

CD3-CD4+ lymphoid variant of hypereosinophilic syndrome: nodal and extranodal histopathological and immunophenotypic features of a peripheral indolent clonal T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder.

The CD3(-)CD4(+) lymphoid variant of hypereosinophilic syndrome is characterized by hypereosinophilia and clonal circulating CD3(-)CD4(+) T cells. Peripheral T-cell lymphoma has been described during this disease course, and we observed in our cohort of 23 patients 2 cases of angio-immunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. We focus here on histopathological (n=12 patients) and immunophenotypic (n=15) characteristics of CD3(-)CD4(+) lymphoid variant of hypereosinophilic syndrome.

The lymphoid variant of hypereosinophilic syndrome: study of 21 patients with CD3-CD4+ aberrant T-cell phenotype.

The CD3-CD4+ aberrant T-cell phenotype is the most described in the lymphoid variant of hypereosinophilic syndrome (L-HES), a rare form of HES. Only a few cases have been reported, and data for these patients are scarce. To describe characteristics and outcome of CD3-CD4+ L-HES patients, we conducted a national multicentric retrospective study in the French Eosinophil Network.

Contact sensitization to modern dressings: a multicentre study on 354 patients with chronic leg ulcers.

Background: Modern dressings (MDs) may have a low sensitization rate, but there is a lack of prospective studies in patients with chronic leg ulcers (CLUs) to evaluate this.

Objectives: To determine the rate of sensitization (contact allergy) to MDs and substances present in dressings.

Patients And Methods: A prospective multicentre study was carried out in patients with CLUs at five French dermatology departments; patch tests were performed with the European baseline series and with an additional 27 individual allergens and 10 MDs.

Outbreak of contact sensitization to methylisothiazolinone: an analysis of French data from the REVIDAL-GERDA network.

Background: The preservative methylisothiazolinone (MI) is used in combination with methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI), but the MCI/MI mixture has been identified as highly allergenic. MI is considered to be less allergenic, and since the mid-2000s has been widely used alone, but is now clearly identified as a contact allergen. The French Vigilance Network for Dermatology and Allergy of the Study and Research Group on Contact Dermatitis (REVIDAL-GERDA) added MI to its baseline patch testing series in 2010.

Saliva polymerase chain reaction assay for detection and follow-up of herpesvirus reactivation in patients with drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS).

Importance: Reactivations of human herpesviruses (HHVs) contribute to the development of drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS). Diagnosis of HHV reactivation is conventionally based on quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of blood samples, but these viruses are present in the oropharynx and are shed in saliva.

Objective: To evaluate the use of a saliva PCR assay for demonstrating HHV shedding in patients with DRESS.