Thirty years of progress in cutaneous lymphoma research

Primary cutaneous lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of T-cell and B-cell neoplasms that present in the skin without any evidence of extracutaneous disease at the time of diagnosis. In 1980 primary cutaneous lymphomas other than mycosis fungoides, Sezary syndrome and some related disorders, collectively termed cutaneous T-cell lymphoma had not yet been recognized. This historic review describes the history of cutaneous lymphoma research in Europe over the last thirty years. European collaborative studies by dermatologists and pathologists, often coordinated by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Cutaneous Lymphoma Group, resulted in the definition of new types of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) and cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (CBCL), and the development of consensus classifications for primary cutaneous lymphomas (EORTC classification; WHO-EORTC classification; WHO classification 2008), which resulted in better diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. More recent activities described herein are the development of guidelines for staging, treatment and the design of clinical trials, often in close collaboration with the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas, the formation of an EORTC CTCL trials platform and attempts to translate the results of molecular genetic studies into clinical practise. In this review the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and continued international collaboration not only in clinical trials and guideline development, but also in basic research is emphasized.