title: Primary cutaneous plasmacytoma: a role for a triggering stimulus?
abstract: Primary cutaneous plasmacytoma is a rare type of cutaneous B-cell lymphoma, characterized by clonal proliferation of plasma cells, that primarily develops in the skin. Five cases have been described to date in which a local triggering stimulus may be involved in development of this skin tumour. We describe the case of a primary cutaneous plasmacytoma localized to the lower lip. This site had been affected for 15 years with recurrent herpes simplex virus-1 infection. Neoplastic plasma cells were found to be bcl-2-positive. We hypothesize that chronic stimulation of keratinocytes by herpes simplex virus-1, possibly through toll-like receptors, may have favoured the release of cytokines (e.g. interleukin-6) able to induce plasma cell proliferation, transformation and survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Section of Dermatology, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zendri
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Venturi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Panfilis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human; D006801:Humans; D008048:Lip Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D010954:Plasmacytoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D012008:Recurrence