Treatment of intra-anal warts with imiquimod 5% cream: A single-center prospective open study.

Intra-anal warts are frequently recalcitrant to surgical removal, but imiquimod 5% cream is not formulated to use in clinical practice due to the risk of mucosal inflammation. In the present, prospective, open study examining the efficacy and safety of imiquimod 5% cream, the drug was applied to the entire inner surface of the anal canal with a cotton swab under anoscopy three times weekly for 16 weeks. If complete remission was not achieved, the treatment was continued until week 28.

Spi-B is critical for plasmacytoid dendritic cell function and development.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), originating from hematopoietic progenitor cells in the BM, are a unique dendritic cell subset that can produce large amounts of type I IFNs by signaling through the nucleic acid-sensing TLR7 and TLR9 (TLR7/9). The molecular mechanisms for pDC function and development remain largely unknown. In the present study, we focused on an Ets family transcription factor, Spi-B, that is highly expressed in pDCs.

Pirfenidone suppresses keloid fibroblast-embedded collagen gel contraction.

Keloid is a clinically intractable disease that causes disfigurement, itching, and pain due to abnormal proliferation of fibroblasts and production of collagen. Pirfenidone is a novel anti-fibrotic agent that inhibits the progression of fibrosis occurring in the keloid lesions of the lung and kidney. In order to examine whether pirfenidone has a therapeutic effect on keloid lesions, we prepared an in vitro wound contraction model with keloid fibroblasts.

Quantification of activated and total caspase-14 with newly developed ELISA systems in normal and atopic skin.

Background: Activation of caspase-14 occurs during terminal differentiation of keratinocytes and may play a role in filaggrin degradation. Therefore, down-regulation of caspase-14 may lead to impaired barrier function.

Objective: To compare the levels of active and total caspase-14 in healthy subjects in various age groups and in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), using two enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) systems.

Conservation of a chemokine system, XCR1 and its ligand, XCL1, between human and mice.

Understanding dendritic cell (DC) subset functions should lead to the development of novel types of vaccine. Here we characterized expression of XC chemokine receptor 1 (XCR1) and its ligand, XCL1. Murine XCR1 was the only chemokine receptor selectively expressed in CD8alpha(+) conventional DCs.

Immunoadjuvant effects of polyadenylic:polyuridylic acids through TLR3 and TLR7.

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is produced upon viral infection and can activate innate immunity. Polyinosinic:polycytidylic acids [poly(I:C)] is a synthetic mimetic of dsRNA and functions through an endosomal receptor, Toll-like receptor (TLR) 3 or cytosolic receptors. Another type of dsRNA, polyadenylic:polyuridylic acids [poly(A:U)], can also act as an immune adjuvant, but it remains unclear how it exhibits its adjuvant effects.

Food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis with a high level of plasma noradrenaline.

Ingesting certain foods sometimes triggers anaphylaxis when followed by exercise (food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, FDEIA). Specific food-induced mucocutaneous urticaria may also progress to anaphylaxis (oral allergy syndrome, OAS). A positive skin test and/or radioallergosorbent test (RAST) to the foods suggest involvement of immunoglobulin (Ig)E-anaphylaxis in both disorders.

IkappaB kinase-alpha is critical for interferon-alpha production induced by Toll-like receptors 7 and 9.

The Toll-like receptor (TLR) family has important roles in microbial recognition and dendritic cell activation. TLRs 7 and 9 can recognize nucleic acids and trigger signalling cascades that activate plasmacytoid dendritic cells to produce interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) (refs 7, 8). TLR7/9-mediated dendritic cell activation is critical for antiviral immunity but also contributes to the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus, a disease in which serum IFN-alpha levels are elevated owing to plasmacytoid dendritic cell activation.

Antifungal activities of tacrolimus and azole agents against the eleven currently accepted Malassezia species.

The lipophilic yeast Malassezia is an exacerbating factor in atopic dermatitis (AD) and colonizes the skin surface of patients with AD. With the goal of reducing the number of Malassezia cells, we investigated the antifungal activities of a therapeutic agent for AD, tacrolimus, and the azole agents itraconazole and ketoconazole against Malassezia species in vitro. We examined 125 strains of the 11 currently accepted Malassezia species by using the agar dilution method.

A new yeast, Malassezia yamatoensis, isolated from a patient with seborrheic dermatitis, and its distribution in patients and healthy subjects.

Over the last few years, new Malassezia species have been found regularly in Japanese subjects. We isolated another new Malassezia species from a Japanese patient with seborrheic dermatitis (SD), and named it M. yamatoensis.

The basidiomycetous yeasts Cryptococcus diffluens and C. liquefaciens colonize the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis.

Our previous research showed that lipophilic yeasts, Malassezia species, colonize the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) at a high frequency. In this study, we found that two basidiomycetous yeasts, Cryptococcus diffluens and C. liquefaciens, colonize the skin significantly more frequently in AD patients than in healthy subjects.

Induction of apoptosis and/or necrosis following exposure to antitumour agents in a melanoma cell line, probably through modulation of Bcl-2 family proteins.

Malignant melanoma cells have been reported to be highly resistant to chemotherapeutic agents. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying chemotherapeutic drug resistance, we examined the role of the Bcl-2 family members Bcl-2 and Bax in cell death in the melanoma cell line G361 following stimulation with cisplatin (CDDP) or dacarbazine (DTIC). Trypan blue dye exclusion showed that both CDDP and DTIC induced death of G361 cells.

Sequence diversity of the intergenic spacer region of the rRNA gene of Malassezia globosa colonizing the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis and healthy individuals.

The lipophilic yeast Malassezia globosa is one of the major constituents of the mycoflora of the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). We compared the genotypes of M. globosa colonizing the skin surface of 32 AD patients and 20 healthy individuals for polymorphism of the intergenic spacer (IGS) 1 region of the rRNA gene.