Why does it happen?
The cause of leukemia cutis includes both genetic and environmental factors. Both of these factors in the end result in chromosome changes and alterations in the locations of the genes. In some cases, having a disease that features chromosome alterations may cause an increased incidence of leukemia cutis. For example:
- Down syndrome: It is also known as trisomy 21 because there is an extra copy of chromosome number 21. This alteration causes specific facial features, mental retardation and growth retardation. Recent studies show that the mutations that cause down syndrome are responsible for causing leukemia as well.
- Bloom syndrome: It is a rare recessive disorder due to a defect in the BLM gene. It is characterized by short stature, photosensitive changes of the skin and a strong predisposition for the development of cancer. The mutation in the BLM gene causes other cells to have an abnormal break in the chromosomes, when it involves the bone marrow it can cause Leukemia as well.
- Klinefelter syndrome: It is due to 2 or more X- Chromosomes in males, resulting in infertility and poor functioning testicles. It is due to an error in cell division and can lead to leukemia as well.
- Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: An X-linked recessive disease characterized by bloody diarrhea, decreased platelet count, immune deficiency and eczema. These patients have a potential risk to develop leukemia.
- Fanconi Anemia: A rare inherited bone marrow failure syndrome which has a higher risk for getting Leukemia and then leukemia cutis.
Apart from these, there are types of leukemia with familial predisposition to suffer the disease. Other causes include acquired (not congenital) genetic mutations which result in a variation in the symmetry of the stem cells from which these leukocytes come from. These mutations in the end result in a defective stem cell, a proliferation of a subgroup of cells, which then start to infiltrate into the epidermis, dermis or subcutaneous layer and keep on proliferating there.