Inflammation markers in cutaneous melanoma - edgy biomarkers for prognosis.

There is a fine balance between inflammation and tumorigenesis. While environmentally induced inflammatory condition can precede a malignant transformation, in other cases an oncogenic change of unknown origin can induce an inflammatory microenvironment that promotes the development of tumors. Regardless of its origin, maintaining the inflammation milieu has many tumor-promoting effects.

Protein microarray for complex apoptosis monitoring of dysplastic oral keratinocytes in experimental photodynamic therapy.

Background: Photodynamic therapy is an alternative treatment of muco-cutaneous tumors that uses a light source able to photoactivate a chemical compound that acts as a photosensitizer. The phthalocyanines append to a wide chemical class that encompasses a large range of compounds; out of them aluminium-substituted disulphonated phthalocyanine possesses a good photosensitizing potential.

Results: The destructive effects of PDT with aluminium-substituted disulphonated phthalocyanine are achieved by induction of apoptosis in tumoral cells as assessed by flow cytometry analysis.

Proteomics focusing on immune markers in psoriatic arthritis.

The immune-pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis represents a subject of intense research, as a still unknown factor can trigger the chronic inflammation that, upon a defective immune terrain, generates this auto-immune/auto-inflammatory condition. The pathogenesis complexity of psoriatic arthritis resides in the psoriatic synovitis milieu, where intricate immune relations are emerging during disease development. Innate immune response generates inflammatory cytokines driving effectors functions for immune and non-immune cells that sustain the chronical character of the synovitis.

Critical physiological and pathological functions of Forkhead Box O tumor suppressors.

The Forkhead box, subclass O (FOXO) proteins are critical transcription factors, ubiquitously expressed in the human body. These proteins are characterized by a remarkable functional diversity, being involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, oxidative detoxification, DNA damage repair, stem cell maintenance, cell differentiation, cell metabolism, angiogenesis, cardiac development, aging and others. In addition, FOXO have critical implications in both normal and cancer stem cell biology.

Serum markers in skin melanoma--preliminary study.

Skin melanoma presents the strongest metastatic capacity and the highest mortality rate of all types of skin cancer, being one of the most aggressive forms of human cancer. Although melanoma represents only 4% of skin cancers, it accounts for 80% of skin cancer deaths. The aim of this study was the investigation of two specific serum markers for melanoma: S100B and melanoma inhibitory activity in relation to disease development.