Incidental cases of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus in association with malignancy

Malignancy and chronic inflammatory diseases seem to be associated to one another. Here we review the literature regarding subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE) and concomitant neoplasia on the basis of 3 short case reports of patients with SCLE who developed breast cancer and lung cancer respectively after long-term disease activity and immunosuppressive therapy. Possible hypotheses for this co-incidence could be: i) malignancy as a consequence of chronic inflammation, ii) malignancy as a consequence of immunosuppressive therapy, iii) paraneoplastic disease, iv) local malignancy following a persisting proliferative or reparative process or v) only coincidental occurrence.