INTRODUCTION Morphea or localized scleroderma is a relatively rare disease whose main symptom is excessive skin fibrosis. Here we focus on the involvement of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) in morphea. The HERVs are a vast and intensely growing field in genomics. HERVs are of special interest as far as autoimmune disorders are concerned, yet little effort has been made until now to assess...

Pansclerotic morphea (PSM) is a rare skin disease characterized by progressive stiffening of the with or without typical superficial changes usually seen in (localized scleroderma). Standard therapy, consisting combination systemic glucocorticoids and methotrexate mycophenolate mofetil, does rarely stop progression, which may lead to severe cutaneous sclerosis secondary contractures. Little kno...

Wolf's isotopic response describes the occurrence of a new, unrelated disease that appears at the same location as a previously healed skin disease, and the most common primary skin disease of this phenomenon is herpes zoster. Several cutaneous lesions have been described to occur at the site of healed herpes zoster, and granulomatous dermatitis and granuloma annulare have been reported to be t...

Subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It presents clinically as panniculitis, with erythematous, firm subcutaneous infiltrates and recurrent papulonodules. A 45-year-old male Croat presented with a 6-month history of tender erythematous subcutaneous skin lesions without systemic symptoms. Analysis of a lesion biopsy specimen showed circumscribed ...

Generalized morphea is a subtype of localized scleroderma that lacks systemic manifestations. It is a rare condition in which idiopathic sclerosis of the skin occurs in a widespread manner. We report a 37-year old Thai female who presented with multiple hypopigmented lesions on right leg and right arm with a skin biopsy showing the typical sclerotic change. The patient responded to treatment wi...

BACKGROUND High interleukin (IL)-17A levels are characteristically found in the skin of systemic sclerosis (SSc) individuals. Our aim was to investigate whether the dermal expression of IL-17A and related IL-17 family members (i.e. IL-17C, IL-17E and IL-17F) could distinguish fibrotic from healthy skin and could show similarities in SSc and morphea, two disorders with presumed distinct pathogen...