Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study

Pamela B. Allen; Subir Goyal; Swaminathan Iyer; Sai Talluru; Auris Huen; Brian Greenwell; Jane Scribner; Darina Paulino; Shel Speegle; Katelin Baird; Anne Beaven; Jeffrey M. Switchenko; Sunil Rangarajan; Amitkumar Mehta; Colin O'Leary; Katherine Case; Brittany Adams; Amy Ayers; Safiyyah Bhatti; Shalini Krishnasamy; Pierluigi Porcu; Tarsheen Sethi; Francine Foss; Mary Jo Lechowicz; Sima Rozati

doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study

Pamela B. Allen
, Subir Goyal
, Swaminathan Iyer
, Sai Talluru
, Auris Huen
, Brian Greenwell
, Jane Scribner
, Darina Paulino
, Shel Speegle
, Katelin Baird
, Anne Beaven
, Jeffrey M. Switchenko
, Sunil Rangarajan
, Amitkumar Mehta
, Colin O'Leary
, Katherine Case
, Brittany Adams
, Amy Ayers
, Safiyyah Bhatti
, Shalini Krishnasamy

Pierluigi Porcu, Tarsheen Sethi, Francine Foss, Mary Jo Lechowicz, Sima Rozati

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background The association between race on outcomes in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome (MF/SS) is poorly understood. Objective To evaluate the association between clinical characteristics, including self-identified race, on patient outcomes in a multicenter cohort study of patients with MF/SS. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted at 7 academic institutions with high representation of Black patients with MF/SS. Patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2021 with consistent follow-up, confirmed diagnosis of MF/SS, and pathology reports available were eligible. Self-reported racial groups were obtained from medical records. Univariate and multivariable models and Kaplan-Meier assessments were analyzed for overall survival. The primary outcome was to assess differences in overall survival among Black patients. The hypotheses were formulated prior to data collection. Results 883 patients with MF/SS were identified, including 419 (47.4%) Black and 464 (56.6%) White patients. Compared to White MF/SS patients, Black patients presented younger with higher stage at diagnosis and worse survival in the cohort aged more than 60 years. Limitations Referral bias due to the setting at tertiary care academic centers and lack of central pathologic review limits interpretation of this study. Conclusions Compared with White patients, Black patients with MF/SS have higher-risk clinical features and decreased survival in the older patients.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	509-516
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume	94
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074
State	Published - Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc.

Funding

Funding sources: The proposed research is supported in part by the Biostatistics Shared Resource of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and NIH / NCI under award number P30CA138292 (S.G. and J.S.). Additional support is provided by the Conquer Cancer Foundation award # 59354 (P.A.), Lymphoma Research Foundation award #59101 (P.A.), The Robert A Winn Foundation award # 68997 (P.A.), and Philanthropic funds from the Kurzweil Family (P.A.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health .

Funders	Funder number
Kurzweil Family
Winship Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Childhood Cancer Registry – National Cancer Institute	P30CA138292
Conquer Cancer Foundation	59354
Lymphoma Research Foundation	59101
Robert A Winn Foundation	68997

Keywords

Sézary syndrome
advanced stage
cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
disparities
mycosis fungoides
race
retrospective
treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Dermatology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

Cite this

Allen, P. B., Goyal, S., Iyer, S., Talluru, S., Huen, A., Greenwell, B., Scribner, J., Paulino, D., Speegle, S., Baird, K., Beaven, A., Switchenko, J. M., Rangarajan, S., Mehta, A., O'Leary, C., Case, K., Adams, B., Ayers, A., Bhatti, S., ... Rozati, S. (2026). Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 94(2), 509-516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

@article{6a2a667f4421434d80ed64209813e3c2,

title = "Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and S{\'e}zary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study",

abstract = "Background The association between race on outcomes in mycosis fungoides and S{\'e}zary syndrome (MF/SS) is poorly understood. Objective To evaluate the association between clinical characteristics, including self-identified race, on patient outcomes in a multicenter cohort study of patients with MF/SS. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted at 7 academic institutions with high representation of Black patients with MF/SS. Patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2021 with consistent follow-up, confirmed diagnosis of MF/SS, and pathology reports available were eligible. Self-reported racial groups were obtained from medical records. Univariate and multivariable models and Kaplan-Meier assessments were analyzed for overall survival. The primary outcome was to assess differences in overall survival among Black patients. The hypotheses were formulated prior to data collection. Results 883 patients with MF/SS were identified, including 419 (47.4\%) Black and 464 (56.6\%) White patients. Compared to White MF/SS patients, Black patients presented younger with higher stage at diagnosis and worse survival in the cohort aged more than 60 years. Limitations Referral bias due to the setting at tertiary care academic centers and lack of central pathologic review limits interpretation of this study. Conclusions Compared with White patients, Black patients with MF/SS have higher-risk clinical features and decreased survival in the older patients.",

keywords = "S{\'e}zary syndrome, advanced stage, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, disparities, mycosis fungoides, race, retrospective, treatment",

author = "Allen, \{Pamela B.\} and Subir Goyal and Swaminathan Iyer and Sai Talluru and Auris Huen and Brian Greenwell and Jane Scribner and Darina Paulino and Shel Speegle and Katelin Baird and Anne Beaven and Switchenko, \{Jeffrey M.\} and Sunil Rangarajan and Amitkumar Mehta and Colin O'Leary and Katherine Case and Brittany Adams and Amy Ayers and Safiyyah Bhatti and Shalini Krishnasamy and Pierluigi Porcu and Tarsheen Sethi and Francine Foss and Lechowicz, \{Mary Jo\} and Sima Rozati",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc.",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074",

language = "English",

volume = "94",

pages = "509--516",

number = "2",

}

Allen, PB, Goyal, S, Iyer, S, Talluru, S, Huen, A, Greenwell, B, Scribner, J, Paulino, D, Speegle, S, Baird, K, Beaven, A, Switchenko, JM, Rangarajan, S, Mehta, A, O'Leary, C, Case, K, Adams, B, Ayers, A, Bhatti, S, Krishnasamy, S, Porcu, P, Sethi, T, Foss, F, Lechowicz, MJ & Rozati, S 2026, 'Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study', Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 509-516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

TY - JOUR

T1 - Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome

T2 - A multicenter cohort study

AU - Allen, Pamela B.

AU - Goyal, Subir

AU - Iyer, Swaminathan

AU - Talluru, Sai

AU - Huen, Auris

AU - Greenwell, Brian

AU - Scribner, Jane

AU - Paulino, Darina

AU - Speegle, Shel

AU - Baird, Katelin

AU - Beaven, Anne

AU - Switchenko, Jeffrey M.

AU - Rangarajan, Sunil

AU - Mehta, Amitkumar

AU - O'Leary, Colin

AU - Case, Katherine

AU - Adams, Brittany

AU - Ayers, Amy

AU - Bhatti, Safiyyah

AU - Krishnasamy, Shalini

AU - Porcu, Pierluigi

AU - Sethi, Tarsheen

AU - Foss, Francine

AU - Lechowicz, Mary Jo

AU - Rozati, Sima

PY - 2026/2

Y1 - 2026/2

N2 - Background The association between race on outcomes in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome (MF/SS) is poorly understood. Objective To evaluate the association between clinical characteristics, including self-identified race, on patient outcomes in a multicenter cohort study of patients with MF/SS. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted at 7 academic institutions with high representation of Black patients with MF/SS. Patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2021 with consistent follow-up, confirmed diagnosis of MF/SS, and pathology reports available were eligible. Self-reported racial groups were obtained from medical records. Univariate and multivariable models and Kaplan-Meier assessments were analyzed for overall survival. The primary outcome was to assess differences in overall survival among Black patients. The hypotheses were formulated prior to data collection. Results 883 patients with MF/SS were identified, including 419 (47.4%) Black and 464 (56.6%) White patients. Compared to White MF/SS patients, Black patients presented younger with higher stage at diagnosis and worse survival in the cohort aged more than 60 years. Limitations Referral bias due to the setting at tertiary care academic centers and lack of central pathologic review limits interpretation of this study. Conclusions Compared with White patients, Black patients with MF/SS have higher-risk clinical features and decreased survival in the older patients.

AB - Background The association between race on outcomes in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome (MF/SS) is poorly understood. Objective To evaluate the association between clinical characteristics, including self-identified race, on patient outcomes in a multicenter cohort study of patients with MF/SS. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted at 7 academic institutions with high representation of Black patients with MF/SS. Patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2021 with consistent follow-up, confirmed diagnosis of MF/SS, and pathology reports available were eligible. Self-reported racial groups were obtained from medical records. Univariate and multivariable models and Kaplan-Meier assessments were analyzed for overall survival. The primary outcome was to assess differences in overall survival among Black patients. The hypotheses were formulated prior to data collection. Results 883 patients with MF/SS were identified, including 419 (47.4%) Black and 464 (56.6%) White patients. Compared to White MF/SS patients, Black patients presented younger with higher stage at diagnosis and worse survival in the cohort aged more than 60 years. Limitations Referral bias due to the setting at tertiary care academic centers and lack of central pathologic review limits interpretation of this study. Conclusions Compared with White patients, Black patients with MF/SS have higher-risk clinical features and decreased survival in the older patients.

KW - Sézary syndrome

KW - advanced stage

KW - cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

KW - disparities

KW - mycosis fungoides

KW - race

KW - retrospective

KW - treatment

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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

DO - 10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.074

M3 - Article

C2 - 41033490

AN - SCOPUS:105024968536

SN - 0190-9622

VL - 94

SP - 509

EP - 516

JO - Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

JF - Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

IS - 2

ER -

Racial differences in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A multicenter cohort study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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