posted
Shortly after my LD dx I was dxd with mycosis fungoides (MF), a T-cell lymphoma that affects the skin. In appearance MF resembles a skin disorder that Bb can cause, acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (sp).
New research in Europe seems to confirm the Bb-MF link.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20470773
Exp Mol Pathol. 2010 Aug;89(1):46-50. Epub 2010 May 12.
Evidence of multiple infectious agents in mycosis fungoides lesions.
Bonin S, Tothova SM, Barbazza R, Brunetti D, Stanta G, Trevisan G. ACADEM Department, Unit of Dermatology, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
Abstract The etiology of mycosis fungoides (MF) remains to be determined. Several studies have proposed a viral etiology with controversial results. In this case-control study we investigated the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the debated presence of Human T-cell lymphotrophic virus I (HTLV-I) sequences, by polymerase chain reaction on nucleic acid extracts from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded skin biopsies. Moreover, by a multivariate approach we analyzed in the same case-control study also the contribution of two previously examined pathogens: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb).
Significant differences in the frequency of infectious agents in cases and controls were detected for Bb, HTLV-I and EBV. In MF patients we found the concurrent presence of two or three of these pathogen sequences in 21 out of 83 cases, but only in 1 out of 83 healthy controls. Our results suggest that the persistence of multiple infectious agents may cause a long-term antigenic stimulation contributing to the malignant transformation of T lymphocytes, especially when associated with HTLV-I like sequences. However, these infectious agents do not seem to have effects on disease progression. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. PMID: 20470773 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
-------------------- Neil Posts: 697 | From Tucson, AZ USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
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Hey Neil! Long time no see!
Glad you found that "connection" and shared it. Hope yours is under control?
I looked it up due to the ACA connection and found two distinctly different photos, making it confusing.
Lyme disease increases the risk of contracting a rare but difficult to treat form of lymph node cancer, mantelcellymfom. It is clear from a large Danish-Swedish study, published in the online edition of the respected trade journal Blood.
"Our results provide support for Lyme infection may contribute to the emergence of mantelcellymfom," said Professor Bengt Glimelius at the Academic Hospital cancer clinic in Uppsala.
He is one of the researchers behind the study, which was made in the light of several previous reports of a possible relationship between Lyme infection and lymph node cancer. In particular, DNA from Lyme bacteria found inside cancer cells in the skin of some patients with lymph node cancer.
The new study includes more than 3000 Danish and Swedish patients with various forms of lymphoma and a similar number of healthy comparison individuals of the same age. All underwent an extensive telephone interview in which they were asked questions including the previous tick bites and Lyme infections. Blood samples to detect antibodies to Lyme bacteria were taken from about half of both groups. Such antibodies are a type of indication of a previous or current Lyme infection.
To have been tick-bitten was common both among patients and among comparison subjects. In both groups reported more than 40 percent said they had a tick bite. As for the presence of antibodies against Borrelia in the blood there was no safe distinction between patients with lymphoma and healthy individuals in the comparison group. In contrast, Lyme infection more than three times more common among patients with mantelcellymfom than in the control group. Nearly one in seven patients with this form of lymphoma, but was only one 33rd person in the control group had a Lyme infection.
"This indicates that the Lyme infection is a risk factor that may underlie some cases of mantelcellymfom. This must be confirmed in further studies," says Bengt Glimelius.
Previously known as MALT lymphoma of the stomach and the eye associated with infection caused by Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia species Chlamydia psittai. Both types of lymphoma are often treated successfully with antibiotics. "In my opinion it is more questionable whether antibiotics can act as mantelcellymfom treatment of patients with Lyme disease. With mantelcellymfom patients have cancer cells with many more genetic mutations than in MALT lymphoma of the stomach or eye," says Bengt Glimelius.
While he hopes that continued research will provide more detailed knowledge of the relationship between Lyme and mantelcellymfom. "Knowledge about the mechanisms behind this relationship will hopefully give suggestions for new ways to treat mantelcellymfom. There is currently no cure for this cancer, which has a worse prognosis than other malignant lymphomas," says Bengt Glimelius.
Published in Uppsala daily newspaper.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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Hi. Thanks for the welcome-back. Your photos don't look like mine. MF & ACA photos have lots of rash/lesion/tumor themes -- what we might expect from "the great imitator?"
-------------------- Neil Posts: 697 | From Tucson, AZ USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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