Towards a better understanding of cellular events in Mycosis fungoides: an immunohistochemical study

In the present work, we have attempted to pay special attention to epidermal and dermal cellular events in Mycosis fungoides (MF). In the epidermis, the two dendritic cell populations, CD1+ and OKM5+, HLe-1+, the adhesion molecules OKM5 and DR on the surface of epidermal cells (Ecs), and cytoskeletal proteins were studied. CD1+ dendritic epidermal cells were generally more abundant than OKM5+, HLe-1+ ones with no interrelationship in their presence. OKM5+, HLe-1+ dendritic cells prevailed in the second stage plaques. The staining pattern with anti-spectrin polyclonal antibody gradually presented increased intensity from Pre-MF to tumor stage. The activation-proliferation related immunophenotype was also examined, as well as other useful markers, in an attempt to correlate their presence in different stages of MF. Special emphasis was given to the staining pattern with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) monoclonal antibody against three targets: epidermal, endothelial, and lymphoid cells. The presence of Ki-67 proliferation marker in suprabasal epidermal layers and lymphoid cells in the dermal infiltrate was also of interest.