Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is a group of inherited skin disorders characterized by lysis of basal keratinocytes leading to the development of intraepidermal blisters from mild trauma. 1 EBS is known to be an autosomal dominant disorder; however, a few recessive cases have been reported. In EBS, the risk of cutaneous malignancy is not higher than in the normal population. 2 We present a patient who showed generalized blistering after minor trauma followed by brownish reticulated hyperpigmentation and squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. We identified a novel homozygous KRT14 mutation (E392X) inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion.
Case and methodsA 41-year-old Korean man was referred because of a lifelong tendency to develop blisters on his whole body in response to minimal trauma. Three months before admission, he detected a painful ulcerative mass on his lateral tongue and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Clinical examination showed scattered blisters and superficial erosions on the sites of previous trivial trauma such as the trunk, extremities and palms ( Fig. 1a), generalized brownish reticulated patches ( Fig. 1b), punctuate keratoderma of the palms (Fig. 1c) and relatively diffuse keratoderma of the soles (Fig. 1d), hallux valgus deformities of the great toes, and dystrophic toenails (Fig. 1e). Hair and eyes were not affected. He was the son of unaffected parents of Korean origin without apparent consanguinity and he denied any of his relatives having a blistering disease. There was a history of frequent blistering of his tongue at the tumour site and a history of multiple dental caries. From early childhood, the patient developed palmoplantar punctuate hyperkeratosis and dystrophic toenails. Skin fragility had not lessened with age. All laboratory tests were negative or within normal limits. Histological examination revealed a subepidermal blister on staining with haematoxylin and eosin. Direct immunofluorescence was negative for IgG, IgM, IgA, C3, C4 and fibrinogen. Electron microscopy confirmed reduced keratin filaments and lysis of the basal keratinocytes. Mutation analysis was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification of all the exons of the keratin 5 and keratin 14 genes from genomic DNA.
Results and discussionA homozygous guanine to thymine transition at residue 1174 of the KRT14 genomic sequence was identified (Fig. 2). This nonsense mutation converts a glutamate residue at codon 392 to a stop codon. To exclude the possibility of selective amplification of one allele, we performed restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis with 50 unrelated controls and confirmed a homozygous mutation (Data S1; see Supporting information). However, due to the absence of parental DNA there is still a remote possibility of heterozygosity. The patient was diagnosed with autosomal recessive EBS with a novel homozygous KRT14 mutation.EBS is usually inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, but there are several types which are inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion such...