History: Frederic Woringer (1903-1964) and Woringer-Kolopp disease

The two most famous dermatologic eponyms born in Strasbourg are Pautrier microabscess and Woringer-Kolopp disease. Frederic Woringer (1903-1964) was one of Pautrier's students, who had been in charge of the Laboratoire d'Histopathologie Cutanée in Strasbourg from 1930 until his death. He achieved a brilliant career in the field of dermatopathology and was very active during the great period between World War I and II. His name is linked to a rare disease, pagetoid reticulosis, which he actually misunderstood, as he was at first convinced that the characteristic intraepidermal changes were due to Paget cells. In this article, we show for the first time the original correspondence between Kolopp (who sent the case to Strasbourg) and Woringer, including discussion with masters such as Pautrier and Civatte. Civatte suggested that these mysterious intraepidermal cells might have common morphologic features with the recently described Sezary cells. After the first publication of pagetoid reticulosis, it took almost 40 years to establish a clear link with mycosis fungoides. It was Braun Falco who named the disease after Woringer and Kolopp in 1974. Woringer would certainly be surprised to know that his name is still world famous, thanks to a rare disease he was the first to extensively describe in 1939, a few days before the declaration of war.