Sweet's syndrome associated with myelodysplasia: possible role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of the disease

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Summary. The clinical course of a 56‐year‐old female patient with Sweet's syndrome (SS) preceded by a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is described. During the acute phase of the disease with high remittent fever, painful skin lesions and maximal leucocytosis IL‐6 and G‐CSF serum levels were extremely high, while TNF‐alpha was only slightly elevated and gamma‐interferon and IL1‐β were not increased. On clinical improvement IL‐6 serum levels rapidly fell, whereas G‐CSF values already slightly elevated before the manifestation of the disease slowly declined.High G‐CSF levels triggered by a yet unknown factor could explain the leucocytosis, neutrophilic dermatosis and skin lesions in SS, while IL‐6 probably induced the associated clinical symptoms of fever and pain.