Differential Expression of JunB in Cutaneous CD30‐Positive Disorders

Abstract

Although some classic differences exist histologically between malignant and benign CD30‐positive lymphoproliferative disorders of the skin, the distinction can only be made by correlation with the patient’s clinical course. There has been limited investigation into the genetic abnormalities seen in this class of disorders. Cutaneous ALCL has been shown to exhibit increased expression of JunB, but differences in expression of JunB between c‐ALCL and benign CD30‐positive cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders have yet to be evaluated. A study to determine the prevalence of JunB coexpression in CD30‐positive cells of primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma and benign CD30‐positive disorders of the skin was undertaken. The two c‐ALCL cases had an average of 98.3%(+/− 0.7%) of CD30‐positive cells coexpressing JunB and the seven benign CD30‐positive disorders exhibited an average of 88.9%(+/− 7.4%) of CD30‐positive cells coexpressing JunB. There was a trend towards lower JunB and CD30 coexpression with benign CD30 lesions compared to cutaneous ALCL, but with our limited sample size, this difference did not achieve statistical significance. Further investigation is needed to more fully evaluate the sensitivity of the expression of JunB and other proteins as markers for clinical behavior in CD‐30 positive lymphoproliferative disorders.