Plasma ACTH and melanocyte-stimulating hormone in nail pigmentation.

occur with some anticancer agents such as cyclophosphamide (Shah et al., 1975), 5-FU and nitrogen mustard (Moore and Meiselbaugh, 1975), and also with exposure to x-rays (Sutton, 1952; Inalshingh, 1972). Priestman and James (1975) reported 3 cases in which nail changes were possibly due to doxorubicin. They speculated that this drug has a selective hormone-suppressive action which might allow an excess of melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) to be released from the pituitary. We report, however, a case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with similar nail banding during combination chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone (Gottlieb et al., 1973) without raised plasma ACTH and r-MSH levels. Case report