Autosomal recessive lamellar ichthyosis and acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Autosomal recessive lamellar ichthyosis (ARLI) is a congenital disorder of keratinization, the gene of which has been mapped to chromosome 14q11. This band is also the breakpoint in various chromosomal rearrangements in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We describe a patient with ARLI who developed ALL at the age of 2.5 years. High resolution banding showed no abnormality or rearrangement involving chromosome 14. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the occurrence of the two conditions in one patient.