Mosaicism in Human Skin. Understanding Nevi, Nevoid Skin Disorders, and Cutaneous Neoplasia

PATTERNS AND MECHANISMS: Mosaicism as a Biological Concept:.- History.- Mosaicism in Plants, Animals, Humans.- Mosaicism Versus Chimerism.- The Mechanisms of Mosaicism .- Genomic Mosaicism of Autosomes.- Epigenetic Mosaicism of autosomes.- Genomic Mosaicism of X Chromosomes.- Epigenetic Mosaicism of X Chromosomes.- The patterns of Mosaicism .- Lines of Blaschko.- Checkerboard Pattern.- Phylloid Pattern.- Patchy Pattern Without Midline Separation.- Lateralization.- Other Patterns, so far Unclassifiable.- MOSAIC SKIN DISORDERS: Nevi.- Melanocytic Nevi.- Other Forms of Pigmentary Mosaicism.- Epidermal Nevi.- Vascular Nevi.- Connective Tissue Nevi.- Nevoid Skin Disorders.- Lyonization (Functional X-Chromosome Mosaicism) in X-Linked Skin Disorders.- Autosomal Non-Nevi.- Neoplastic Skin Lesions.- Benign Tumors.- Malignant Tumors.- CONCLUSION.

Mosaicism is a powerful biologic concept, originally developed from studying plants and animals. All cutaneous neoplasms, both benign and malignant, reflect mosaicism, which is the necessary basis to explain numerous human skin disorders. For example, various mosaic patterns visualize the embryonic development of human skin and X-linked skin disorders explain why women live longer than men, and so on. This book presents, for the first time, a comprehensive overview on the strikingly manifold patterns and peculiarities of mosaic skin disorders. This reader-friendly structured and straightforward publication will help the dermatologist to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of skin disorders in order to further improve the treatment outcome.