A 31-year-old woman had arteriovenous malformation with skin lesions clinically and histologically simulating Kaposi sarcoma. Patients under 40, in whom Kaposi sarcoma is suspected should be carefully examined for an underlying arteriovenous malformation.

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An autopsy of a patient with genital Paget’s disease with general metastasis revealed metastatic lesions in the lung, liver, pericardium, diaphragma, right suprarenal gland, lymph nodes around the aorta, and behind the breast bone.

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84-year-old woman with Meibomian gland carcinoma on the right lower eyelid was reported. The incidence, prognosis, clinical signs, histological examination and electron microscopic study of Meibomian gland carcinoma were discussed.

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In two patients with SLE, the lymphography revealed abnormal findings with a granulation pattern even though the superficial lymph nodes were not palpable. This lymphographic investigations may be useful for the early and differential diagnosis of SLE.

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A 33-year-old woman with traumatic epithelial cysts on the sole of the left foot was reported. She had had an injury on this area about 15 years previously and she noted indurations which increased in size and number. The histological findings of this lesion showed two epidermoid cysts and one foreign body reaction in the dermis and the subcutaneous tissue. The diagnosis of so-called “traumatic epithelial cyst” was made on the basis of the clinical course and histological features. Although so-called traumatic epithelial cyst has been already described in detail, the case with multiple cysts on the one area has not been reported in the Japanese dermatological literature since 1966.

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Peptide antigen preparation was purified from cultured Sporothrix schenckii mycelia by extraction with 0.1 N-HCl and picric acid precipitation. This preparation—tentatively termed sporothrix peptide antigen (SPA)—elicited a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in immunized guinea pigs. The minimum dose required to elicit a positive skin reaction was 5μg. SPA also specifically inhibited the migration of peritoneal exudate cells in immunized guinea pigs. Chemical analyses showed that SPA contained above 90 percent protein and a minute quantity of polysaccharide and nucleic acid. In enzyme digestion studies, the antigenic activity of SPA was completely destroyed by treatment with pronase. Thus, the peptide moiety probably carried the entire antigenic activity. SPA showed a widely distributed pattern, in gel-filtration and electrophoresis studies. The estimated molecular weight was 5,000—800,000 daltons or more. SPA also was stable to heat and acid-alkali processing: heating at 120°C or treatment with 3N-HCl or 3N-NaOH resulted in no change in the antigenic activity. A clinical evaluation of SPA was carried out in 26 patients with sporotrichosis. SPA and conventional sporotrichin produced almost the same degree of skin reaction in most patients, but in only 4 cases, SPA alone showed a positive skin reaction. The specificity of SPA was, therefore, estimated to be almost the same as or slightly higher than that of the conventional sporotrichin. The high specificity, heat stability, high antigenic activity (per unit weight) and highly purified nature of SPA suggest that it may be effective for clinical skin testing and in vitro examinations of cellular immunity such as migration inhibition or lymphoblast formation tests.

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Sixty-one patients from 50 to 89 years of age and under rehabilitation for apoplexy or arteriosclerosis were examined using the delayed hypersensitivity reaction to assess the extent of non-specific cell-mediated immunity. The results were compared with those in 32 healthy volunteers from 18 to 29 years of age. The skin response to PPD did not decrease with age, however, the response to Candida decreased after 60 years and that to DNCB was significantly low in the aged. These data indicate the possibility that recognition phase of antigen is easily impaired according to aging.

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Thirty patients with definite drug eruptions and 16 patients with probable ones were studied. Whole blood microculture technique (measurement of ³H-TdR uptake) of the lymphocyte stimulation test was used and special reference was made to its usefulness and immunological aspects of drug eruptions. Positive cases showing more than 160% stimulation indices included of 4 definite cases and 2 probable ones. Two were cases of morbilliform or scarlantiniform exanthemas, 2 were erythema exsudativum multiforme, 1 was erythroderma complicated with lichenoid eruption and 1 was mucocutaneous ocular syndrome. These findings suggest that a delayed hypersensitivity plays a role in these types of drug eruptions. Positive results were obtained in 5 patients examined 2 weeks after the cessation of the systemic administration of corticosteroid. Positive results were never seen in those examined within 2 weeks.

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