A Long-Term Clinicopathologic Survey of Patients With Jessner's's Lymphocytic Infiltration of the Skin

Skin biopsies from 6 patients with Jessner's lymphocytic infiltration (JLI) were studied using monoclonal antibodies in peroxidase staining, on some occasions combined with [3H]thymidine incorporation visualized by autoradiography. Ninety-one +/- two percent of all inflammatory mononuclear cells in situ were T11-positive T lymphocytes, whereas B lymphocytes were few. Forty-nine +/- nine percent of cells were Ia-positive, suggesting involvement of T cells in the local pathogenetic mechanisms, but interleukin-2 receptor-carrying cells as well as [3H]thymidine-incorporating cells accounted for less than 2% of all inflammatory cells, suggesting that T blasts account for only a small minority. Similarly, PCA-1 plasma cells were few in situ, there was no immunoglobulin or complement deposition at the dermal-epidermal junction and serum antinuclear and anti-DNA antibodies as well as complement levels were normal, and no visceral involvement was revealed during the survey period. According to our findings, JLI of the skin seems to be sufficiently distinctive to be appreciated as an entity. T lymphocytes in JLI do not seem to proliferate in the site of inflammation but are merely accumulated from the circulation.