Pk. Shitabata et al., CUTANEOUS SCLEROTIC FIBROMA - IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE OF A FIBROBLASTIC NEOPLASM WITH ONGOING TYPE-I COLLAGEN-SYNTHESIS, The American journal of dermatopathology, 17(4), 1995, pp. 339-343
The sclerotic fibroma (SF) is a tumor of the skin that may occur spora
dically or in the context of Cowden's syndrome. The authors studied fo
ur examples of this tumor in an effort to understand better the nature
of the fibrous matrix in SF and its significance. A novel antibody wa
s utilized that is directed against the immunoreactive amino-terminal
precuror domain of human type I procollagen (AP). This peptide is usua
lly identified only at sites of active or recent collagen synthesis an
d deposition. All examples of SF showed strong cellular and stromal st
aining for AP. The matrix also demonstrated variable staining for type
IV collagen and laminin. The overall immunophenotype of this lesion s
uggests that it may be a specialized fibroblastic (''dermal dendrocyti
c?'') tumor. Despite its hypocellularity and hyalinized nature, SF is
thought to exhibit ongoing matrical production that supports a neoplas
tic character for this lesion.