title: Dermatofibroma is a clonal proliferative disease.
abstract: Benign fibrous histiocytoma of the skin or dermatofibroma (DF) has been regarded as a fibrohistiocytic tumor. Whether DF is a neoplastic growth or a reactive process has not been settled. Since a neoplastic process is clonal in nature, clonal analysis of DF was conducted to see if DF is a clonal disease. Fresh specimens of 13 DFs and 2 hypertrophic scars obtained from female patients were studied. The adjacent nonlesional skin tissues served as controls. The clonal analysis was based on the methylation pattern of the polymorphic X-chromosome linked androgen-receptor gene (HUMARA). Eight DFs and 1 hypertrophic scar were heterozygous at the androgen receptor gene and could be analyzed. All 8 informative DFs showed a significant reduction in one of the allelic bands compared with the corresponding bands of the nonlesional tissue after Hha I digestion. Therefore, DF is a clonal proliferative disease. In contrast, 1 hypertrophic scar showed a polyclonal pattern of X-chromosome inactivation. We conclude that DF is a clonal disease favoring a neoplastic process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Chang Gung University School of Medicine and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kwei San, Tao Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002455:Cell Division; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000473:pathology; D002999:Clone Cells; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D018219:Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000235:genetics; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D011944:Receptors, Androgen