CD8+ cytotoxic mycosis fungoides: a retrospective analysis of clinical features and follow‐up results of 29 patients

Background and objective Less than 5% of cases of mycosis fungoides (MF) present with a cytotoxic/suppressor CD8+ phenotype. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, and clinical course in CD8+ MF patients. Methods In a retrospective analysis of 353 MF patients in a referral center at Ankara University, Turkey, 29 patients that were diagnosed with CD8+ MF were included in the study. Results CD8+ MF cases constituted 8.2% of all MF patients. The age at the time of diagnosis ranged between 6 and 81 years with a median value of 46 years. The female‐to‐male ratio was 1.41. Patients presented with erythematous scaly (69%), hyperpigmented (58.6%), poikilodermic (17.2%), and hypopigmented (17.2 %) patches/plaques. The most common sites of involvement were the trunk and lower extremities. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (24.1%, n: 7) with 13 patients (44.8%) having a history of at least one autoimmune disease. At the time of diagnosis, 93.2% of the patients had early‐stage disease, and 6.8% of the patients had advanced stage. The mean follow‐up period was 6.68 ± 6.04 years (range 1–28 years). Most of the patients were treated with skin‐directed therapies. Complete remission was achieved in 17 (58.6%) patients, eight (27.6%) patients had partial remission, and four (13.8%) patients had stable disease. Conclusions We concluded that CD8+ MF is associated with an indolent course and in most patients, skin‐directed therapies were found to be efficient to control the disease.