VASCULAR NODULES AND PLAQUES RESEMBLING CHRONIC MUCOCUTANEOUS CANDIDIASIS IN A PATIENT WITH A LOW INTERLEUKIN-2 LEVEL

A 21-year-old woman had a lifelong history of widespread friable vascu lar nodules and plaques. Her condition had previously been diagnosed a s chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis because of her clinical appearance . Routine studies of immune function were performed in addition to a c omparison of cytokine secretion in mononuclear leukocytes of our patie nt and normal controls. Interleukin 2 secretion by phytohemagglutinin- stimulated mononuclear leukocytes was deficient when compared with six healthy donors (<300 pg/ml vs 2108 +/- 336 pg/ml). Interleukin 2 defi ciency may be a causative factor in cases of unusual vascular prolifer ation. Treatment with methotrexate, which increases interleukin 2 acti vity and inhibits neovascularization in vitro, was helpful in our pati ent.