Modern medicine has increasingly directed its interest towards discovering the etiology of occupational dermatitis, but unfortunately it is not completely elucidated. As with other occupational diseases, the presence of the exposure and the temporal relation between the exposure and the appearance of the characteristic signs is a defining element, but obtaining the information on the etiological factors is not always easy, therefore the attention must be directed to a systematic collection of these data. Clinical diagnosis is not sufficient, so additional paraclinical tests are needed for a complete diagnosis. Currently, more and more emphasis is being placed on experimental studies targeting the discovery of molecular or genetic markers that complement the idea of individual susceptibility in the appearance of contact dermatitis. As frequent as it is difficult to diagnose, occupational dermatitis is still a public health problem.

Mycosis fungoides is one of the most common forms of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Its diagnosis is sometimes challenging and quite difficult for the physician, because its onset clinical appearance is similar to other skin diseases. Although there are a few hypotheses about mycosis fungoides’ etiology, they aren’t fully understood and still need confirmation. We report the case of a 68 years old patient diagnosed with mycosis fungoides, who has been exposed to asbestos fibers. This case is one of the few reported cases of association between asbestos and mycosis fungoides. There is no data exploring the causal relation between asbestos exposure and mycosis fungoides but common biological mechanisms could represent an argument. If occupational exposure to asbestos will be confirmed in larger studies, a new research-field of asbestos-related diseases needs to be opened.

Background: Despite significant progress in the diagnosis of contact dermatitis, the identification of specific tests or biomarkers remains an unsolved issue, particularly when needed for the confirmation of the occupational origin of the disease. Objective: To characterize the plasma proteome profile in occupational dermatitis in workers from paint industry. Methods: The study has a case-control design, comparing exposed workers with and without occupational contact dermatitis, matched for age, gender, occupational history and comorbidities. An immunological assay (Human XL Cytokine Array Kit – ARY022B, R&D Systems) was used to measure the plasma levels of 105 cytokines and chemokines in a pooled sample of the cases and a pooled sample of the controls. Results: A 1.5-fold increase was noticed for interleukin 3, interleukin 10 and leptin in cases, as compared to controls. Fibroblast growth factor-7 and growth/differentiation factor-15 showed a 1.4- fold increase, while interleukin 19, interleukin 31 and macrophage inflammatory protein 3α had only a 1.3-fold increase. Leukemia inhibitory factor was the only plasma cytokine that showed a 1.3-fold decrease. All other cytokines had a variation of less than 1.2-fold between cases and controls. Conclusion: The recognition of the molecular signatures is very important for an accurate and indisputable diagnosis of occupational contact dermatitis. In workers from paint industry, plasma levels of interleukins 3, 10, 13 and 19, fibroblast growth factor-7, and growth/differentiation factor-15 together with leukemia inducible factor may differentiate subjects with contact dermatitis from those without skin lesions.