The role of chemokines and chemokine receptors in mycosis fungoides

Cutaneous Lymphomas (CL) are a distinctive group of lymphomas; they are the second most frequent extra nodal lymphomas. They can be defined as lymphoproliferative skin infiltrates of T-, Bor NKcell lineage which typically occur in and remain confined to the skin without detectable extracutaneous manifestation 1. The Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma (CTCL) spectrum is composed of Mycosis Fungoides (MF), Se ́zary Syndrome (SS), and other T-cell lymphomas. Primary cutaneous lymphomas are defined as patients without concurrent extracutaneous disease at the time of diagnosis. Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma in which malignant T cell clones are recruited into the skin from the early disease stages. A gradual clonal expansion of atypical CD3+, CD4+, CD8–, skin-homing T lymphocytes occurs in this disease. It has an indolent clinical course with slow progression over years or sometimes decades from patches to more infiltrated plaques and eventually tumors. Epidermotropism may no longer be found in mycosis fungoides after progression to the tumor stage 2,3.