Application of optical coherence tomography in non-invasive characterization of skin vascular lesions.

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new non-invasive approach for real-time in vivo tissue characterization. A promising use of OCT can be the assessment of the architecture of lesions with some degree of inhomogeneities, such as vascular lesions. Knowledge of the size and depth of the vascular structures can be useful for the diagnosis and for choosing the best treatment.

The CD40/CD40 ligand system is involved in the pathogenesis of pemphigus.

The CD40/CD40 ligand (CD40L) system has never been investigated in autoimmune bullous diseases belonging to the pemphigus group in humans. Skin biopsy specimens from 21 patients with pemphigus vulgaris, 10 with pemphigus foliaceous and healthy volunteers were studied by immunohistochemistry (for CD40 and CD40L) and reversal transcriptase polymerase-chain reaction (for CD40L), while sera were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for soluble CD40L. In all pemphigus specimens, the basal and suprabasal layers of the epidermis and perivascular infiltrating cells were CD40+.