Chester-Erdheim disease: a neoplastic disorder

Chester-Erdheim disease is a rare non-langerhans cell histiocytosis characterized by a xanthomatous infiltration of foamy macrophages. The cause and pathogenesis remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Chester-Erdheim disease is a polyclonal reactive disease or a clonal neoplastic disorder. The clonal status of samples obtained from five patients with Chester-Erdheim disease was studied. DNA was extracted from fixed and paraffin-embedded sections after microdissection and clonal status was studied using the Xchromosome inactivation pattern of the human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA assay). One patient was homozygous for the HUMARA gene and noninformative. Three other cases were monoclonal. One was polyclonal, and this case showed a dense reactive infiltrate in association with spumous macrophages. This study suggests strongly that Chester-Erdheim disease is a monoclonal lesion consistent with neoplastic disorder. Thus, Chester-Erdheim disease may be considered as the "macrophage" counterpart of Langerhan's cell histiocytosis in the histiocytosis spectrum. Further studies are needed to establish the origin of this clonal proliferation.