Ancient friends, revisited: Systematic review and case report of pyoderma gangrenosum-associated autoinflammatory syndromes

In the last decade, new scientific findings significantly improved our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of autoinflammation and have resulted in the identification and definition of several pyoderma gangrenosum-associated autoinflammatory syndromes (PGAAIS) as new and distinct clinical entities. These different clinical entities include PAPA (pyogenic arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum and acne conglobata), PASH (pyoderma gangrenosum, acne and suppurative hidradenitis), PAPASH (pyoderma gangrenosum, acne, suppurative hidradenitis and pyogenic arthritis), PsAPASH (pyoderma gangrenosum, acne, suppurative hidradenitis and psoriatic arthritis), PASS (pyoderma gangrenosum, acne conglobata, suppurative hidradenitis, and axial spondyloarthritis) and PAC (pyoderma gangrenosum, acne and ulcerative colitis), which can be distinguished by their clinical presentation and the presence or absence of mutations in several genes, such as the genes encoding proline-serine-threonine phosphatase-interacting protein 1 (PSTPIP1), nicastrin (NCSTN), Mediterranean fever (MEFV) and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein (NOD). In this systematic review, we summarize the present knowledge of this rapidly developing hot topic and provide a guide to enable the easy diagnosis of these syndromes in everyday clinical practice. Moreover, we report a rare case of PASS syndrome demonstrating successful treatment with adalimumab and another case of a previously unreported combination of symptoms, including psoriatic arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum, suppurative hidradenitis and Crohn’s disease (newly coined PsAPSC), as examples. Because of the identification of similar genetic and pathogenic mechanisms of PGAAIS, we think the wide variety of seemingly different syndromes may represent distinct phenotypes of one disease.