Kaposi's sarcoma in a patient with pemphigus vulgaris

Autoimmune bullous diseases in non‐HIVKaposi's sarcoma: a retrospective study in a large cohort of patients

“…In addition, we found approximately 20 cases of KS developed during immunosuppression for PV or pemphigus foliaceus . The duration of the immunosuppressive therapy before KS development ranged widely from a few weeks to many years; however, most patients developed KS during the first 3 years of immunosuppressive treatment.…”

“…20,24 In addition, we found approximately 20 cases of KS developed during immunosuppression for PV or pemphigus foliaceus. 10,11,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] The duration of the immunosuppressive therapy before KS development ranged widely from a few weeks 33,35,40 to many years; 32,38 however, most patients developed KS during the first 3 years of immunosuppressive treatment. Different adjuvant drugs were also administered, such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, methotrexate, rituximab and intravenous immunoglobulins.…”

“…Kaposi's sarcoma pathogenesis is still debated, but it is well known that impaired immunity favours the development of the disease . In fact, immunosuppressive therapy generally triggers or worsens KS, as in the case of iatrogenic KS, a subtype of KS which is mainly observed in transplant patients, and less commonly in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy for other medical disorders, such as bullous diseases . Thus, in all the patients of our cohort who developed KS after the onset of the bullous disease, it is conceivable that immunosuppressants played a relevant role in the induction of KS.…”

“…In the last decades, different authors hypothesized that HHV‐8 infection may be a triggering factor of bullous diseases, especially of pemphigus, even though data are contradictory, and the relationship between this virus and autoimmune bullous disorders remains unclear . In addition, a number of case reports describing KS occurring in patients under immunosuppressive treatment for bullous diseases have been published . To shed some light on this topic, we performed a retrospective study in a large cohort of patients with non‐HIV KS followed up at our centre, firstly, to assess the frequency of bullous diseases, and, secondly, to better understand the clinical features and response to treatment of the two conflicting diseases.…”

“…[5][6][7] In addition, a number of case reports describing KS occurring in patients under immunosuppressive treatment for bullous diseases have been published. [8][9][10][11] To shed some light on this topic, we performed a retrospective study in a large cohort of patients with non-HIV KS followed up at our centre, firstly, to assess the frequency of bullous diseases, and, secondly, to better understand the clinical features and response to treatment of the two conflicting diseases. In fact, treatment in these cases may be particularly challenging, as the corticosteroids used for the autoimmune diseases generally exacerbate KS.…”