Annular erythema. A comparative study of Sjögren syndrome with subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

Annular erythema developed in 22 patients with Sjögren syndrome. Clinically, the annular erythema was subdivided into three forms: Sweet disease-like annular erythema with an elevated border (14 cases); subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE)-like marginally scaled erythema (5 cases); and papular erythema (3 cases). Histopathologically, features commonly seen in annular erythema are deep perivascular and/or periappendageal infiltration of the lymphocytes with an admixture of neutrophils or plasma cells and less frequent epidermal changes suggestive of cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Immunoglobulin or complement deposition along the dermoepidermal junction of lesional skin was observed in 8 of 18 cases, and most of the dermal infiltrates consisted of CD4(+), 4B4(+) cells. The appearance of anti-SS-A(Ro) (100%) and anti-SS-B(La) (77%) was significantly higher in patients with annular erythema. These results suggest that patients with Sjögren syndrome might have a distinct annular erythematous lesion that is both clinically and histopathologically different from SCLE, although close immunologic abnormalities exist in these two diseases.