A Case Report of Dermatofibroma in a Persian Leopard in Golestan National Park, Iran

Document Type : Case Report

Authors

1 Department of Environmental sciences, Faculty of Fisheries and Environmental sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

2 Assistant professor, Department of veterinary pathobiology, Islamic Azad University, Babol branch, Babol, Iran.

3 Young Researchers and Elite Club, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

4 Golestan Office of the Environment Department, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Dermatofibroma is a common skin benign cutaneous tumor with many variants based on alterations in the morphology and composition of its diverse elements. The cause of dermatofibroma is unknown, it was his- torically attributed to being a reactive response to some traumatic lesion to the skin which is associated with itching and pain. This tumor usually appears on the limbs, especially the end extremities, in young adults. In the present study, a middle-aged Persian leopard was accidentally killed because of a car incident in the Golestan National Park, Iran. Following necropsy, skin mass on the right toe was observed and after sam- pling was transferred to the laboratory. After routine histopathological and immunohistochemical processes, Dermatofibroma was diagnosed microscopically with non-capsulated, circumscribed, hypocellular dermal nodule in a spiral pattern. According to the results of this study immunohistochemical staining revealed positivity for CD34. There is limited information about the Dermatofibroma in leopards. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Dermatofibroma in the Persian leopard.

Keywords

Full Text

Dermatofibroma is a common dermal nod- ule that is unexplained (Campanacci, 2013). Dermatofibroma is most frequently found in the skin and soft tissues of cats, occasional- ly found in horses and mules, and rarely in other domestic species’ skin, including dogs. Dermatofibroma is usually asymptomatic, but itching and pain are often noted. Derma- tofibroma is the most common of all painful skin tumors (Crisan et al., 2014). The exact mechanism for the development of Derma- tofibroma is unknown. Rather than a reactive tissue change, evidence that Dermatofibroma may be a neoplastic process is demonstrated by its clonal proliferative growth (Chen et al., 2000). The cause of Dermatofibroma is un- known, it was historically attributed to being a reactive response to some traumatic lesion to the skin (e.g. arthropod bite) (Reich et al., 2017). Clonality, by itself, is not necessari- ly synonymous with a neoplastic process; it has been demonstrated in inflammatory con- ditions, including atopic dermatitis, lichen


 

sclerosis, and psoriasis. Dermatofibroma tu- mor genesis may be due to distorted protein kinase C activity (Płaszczyca et al., 2014).

Case Report

Clinical presentation

A seven-year-old female Persian leopard was dead because of accidents a road-kill  in Golestan National Park, Iran, in May 2014. Following necropsy, skin mass on the sideline of the right toe was observed. The mass was dissected in necropsy. The resect- ed mass sample was grayish-white in color and measured 2×2×1.5cm,  with  necrosis  at the cut surface (Figure 1). The sample was fixed in 10 % buffered formalin. Serial sections of the formalin-fixed, paraffin-em- bedded sample were produced and serial sections were cut, using a rotary microtome (Leitz, 1512, Germany) at 5 μm. The sam- ples were stained by routine hematoxylin and eosin (HandE) and CD34 immunohis- tochemical staining.

 

                        

Figure 1. Grayish-white dermal nodule on the right toe in Persian leopard (arrow).

 

 

 

Assessments

Histopathologic examination showed a non-capsulated, circumscribed and clear demarcated dermal nodule. The nodule contained hypocellular and hyalinized thick bundles of collagen. The collagen  bun- dles were shaped in a whorled pattern with prominent clefts. Lymphocyte infiltration was observed between the bundles of col- lagen  (Figure  2).  Immunohistochemistry is a powerful microscopy-based technique that is important in the differential diagno-


sis of dermatofibroma. In this study, immu- nohistochemical staining revealed positiv- ity for CD34 (Figure 3). Dermatofibroma was diagnosed according to the results of histopathological and immunohistochemi- cal findings. To our knowledge, this is the first report of dermatofibroma in the Per- sian leopard. Previous studies have report- ed CD-positive fibroma in dermatofibrosar- coma, sclerotic fibroma and lip (Alawi and Freedman, 2004; Mcniff et al., 2005; Wang and Sarma, 2007).

 

  

 

Figure 2. Prominent hypocellular, necrosis and hyalinized eosinophilic thick bundles of collagen in a whorled pattern. HandE staining. 10x, 40x.