Basal cell carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation arising in a scar: A case report.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common cutaneous malignant tumor, may display neuroendocrine differentiation in very rare instances. We here describe a case of a BCC with neuroendocrine differentiation that arose in a scar resulting from a trauma 75 years earlier. Neuroendocrine differentiation was proven by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy.

Mast cells and neutrophils proteolytically activate chemokine precursor CTAP-III and are subject to counterregulation by PF-4 through inhibition of chymase and cathepsin G.

The CXC chemokines platelet factor 4 (PF-4/CXCL4) and connective tissue-activating peptide III (CTAP-III) are released by activated human platelets in micromolar concentrations. So far, neutrophils have been recognized to cleave the precursor CTAP-III to form the active chemokine neutrophil-activating peptide 2 (NAP-2/CXCL7) through limited proteolysis by membrane-associated cathepsin G. Here we show for the first time that activated human skin mast cells (MCs) convert CTAP-III into biologically active NAP-2 through proteolytic cleavage by released chymase.

Chondrolipoma of the hand: a case report.

The authors present the case of a chondrolipoma which was excised from the left hand's palm of an 83-year old woman. Chondrolipomas are rare neoplasms; their terminology and pathogenesis have been controversial in the past. Chondrolipoma in the hand does not seem to have been reported so far.