Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is an inherited autosomal recessive disorder characterized by photosensitivity and an increased risk of developing multiple skin neoplasms at sites exposed to the sun. We report a 73-year-old Japanese man with angiosarcoma of the auricle and an XP-variant, which is a very rare condition. In this case, long-term physical stimulation due to auricular deformation after surgery may have been the cause.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 70-year-old Japanese man presented at our hospital with an asymptomatic, blackish, irregularly shaped plaque with a gray nodule in the periphery on his left lower leg. The lesion had been present for 10 years and had recently enlarged, associated with bleeding. Histopathologically, the tumor consisted of three distinct parts: The first part showed massive aggregation of basophilic basaloid cells with peripheral palisading and abundant melanin granules, and was diagnosed as solid-type basal cell carcinoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellular fibrous histiocytoma, a variant of fibrous histiocytoma, is a designation used for lesions showing increased cellularity with a fascicular growth pattern and frequent extension into the subcutis. Here we describe a case of cellular fibrous histiocytoma showing repeated recurrence in a 36-year-old woman who initially presented with a 2-cm cutaneous tumor on her right elbow. Histopathologically, the first resected specimen demonstrated irregularly arranged collagen fibers mixed with scattered proliferating plump to spindle-shaped fibrohistiocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethylation and demethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) play a role in the transcriptional regulation of several cancer-related genes and are closely associated with malignant tumor behavior. A novel study has recently demonstrated that SETDB1, a member of the H3K9 methyltransferases, accelerates tumor formation significantly in a zebrafish melanoma model. However, the expression of H3K9 methyltransferases including SETDB1 and demethylases has not been systematically examined in samples of human melanoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pustulosis palmaris et plantaris (PPP) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune-type disease characterized by sterile pustules of skin. The skin inflammation is influenced by several factors such as drugs, sunlight, metabolic and psychogenic factors as well as metal allergy. Here, we report a rare case that intensive periodontal treatment might have contributed to the improvement of skin inflammation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the prognostic significance and post-transcriptional acetylation-modification of cortactin (CTTN) via the nucleus accumbens-associated 1 (NACC1)-histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) deacetylation system in primary melanomas and melanoma cell lines. Overexpression of CTTN protein was observed in 56 (73%) of 77 stage I-IV melanomas, and was significantly correlated with tumor thickness, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and disease outcome. The patients whose tumors exhibited CTTN overexpression had a poorer outcome than patients without this feature (P=0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEccrine spiradenoma (ES) usually occurs as a solitary small nodule. It presents rarely as multifocal or multiple localized tumors arranged in a linear, zosteriform or nevoid distribution. We present a rare case of a 55-year-old woman who had a 48-year history of multiple vascular eccrine spiradenomas (VES) localized on the left side of the submandibular region and neck.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOverexpression of class III beta-tubulin (TUBB3) is an important mechanism of taxane resistance. Using 7 melanoma cell lines, 2 normal neonatal human epidermal melanocyte (NHEM) cultures, and 49 primary melanomas, we investigated TUBB3 expression, its relationship to chemosensitivity to taxane derivatives, and the epigenetic mechanism controlling TUBB3 gene expression. Normal melanocytes in vitro and in vivo strongly expressed TUBB3 protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis report describes a vasculitis and subsequently developing angiodestructive lymphoma in an 11-year-old Japanese-Filipino girl exhibiting mosquito allergy with the background of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. She developed necrotic skin ulcer at the site of mosquito bite, and histopathological examination revealed EBV-positive mononuclear cell infiltration throughout the wall of small-sized muscular artery. These EBV-positive lymphoid cells were oligoclonal in Southern blot analysis for EBV terminal repeats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiosci Biotechnol Biochem
July 2004
Reciprocal activation of prourokinase (pro-u-PA) and plasminogen is an important mechanism in the initiation and propagation of local fibrinolytic activity. We found that glucosyldiacylglycerol (GDG) enhanced the reciprocal activation by 1.5- to 2-fold at 0.
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