Granuloma annulare and sarcoidosis

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Abstract
Granuloma annulare (GA) and sarcoidosis are 2 diseases in humans of unknown cause which involve the skin and whose basic pathology is a mononuclear histiocytic cellular reaction. Biopsy plays the major role in the diagnosis of both diseases, and no other routine laboratory test for either disease is currently available. Sarcoidosis is generally considered to be an allergic or immune granuloma with inconstant defects in cell-mediated immunity. There were no immunological studies of GA. Fourteen cases were studied and circulating lymphokines (macrophage migration inhibition factor) were found in 11 which correlated with circulating macrophage migration inhibition factor in sarcoidosis (9 of 10 cases). The co-existence of GA and sarcoidosis in 5 patients suggests that there are very similar immunological reactions as well as pathology in both diseases and that the elucidation of the pathogenesis of one disease should aid in understanding the other. There are no prior reports of systemic sarcoidosis co-existing with or manifesting the histological picture of GA. It has been demonstrated by clinical and histological criteria that GA and sarcoidosis can co-exist.