Stem cells: an alternative to organ transplantation in chronic, degenerative and infectious diseases?

Even in the absence of damage or illness mature animals need billions of new cells every single day of their lives in order to survive and renew circulating blood cells and intestinal and skin lining. This task is accomplished by undifferentiated cells residing in most adult organs. These cells are designated adult stem cells (ASC) since they represent the adult counterpart, present in almost every organ, of the embryonal stem cells (ES) from which the entire human body develops.

Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) expression in normal human tissues.

Objective: To characterize vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) protein expression in normal human tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC). VEGF-C is a growth factor for lymphatic endothelial cells. VEGF-C mRNA and protein are expressed in a variety of cancerous tissues, but the localization of VEGF-C protein in many normal human tissues has not been clearly demonstrated to date.

Imaging of lymphatic vessels in breast cancer-related lymphedema: intradermal versus subcutaneous injection of 99mTc-immunoglobulin.

Objective: The disordered physiology that results from axillary lymph node clearance surgery for breast cancer and that leads to breast cancer-related lymphedema is poorly understood. Rerouting of lymph around the axilla or through new pathways in the axilla may protect women from breast cancer-related lymphedema. The aim of the study was to compare intradermal with subcutaneous injection of technetium-99m ((99m)Tc)-labeled human polyclonal IgG (HIG) with respect to lymphatic vessel imaging.

Assessment of health-related quality of life in patients with lymphedema of the lower limb.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a number of tools in the evaluation of health-related quality of life in patients with lower limb lymphedema, and to determine the consequences of cancer history and concurrent leg ulceration. Patients in one health trust having lower limb lymphedema were identified and interviewed at entry and after 24 weeks. The short form-36 (SF-36), modified Barthel scale, McGill short form pain questionnaire, and Euroqol were administered at both time points.

High-resolution ultrasound reflex transmission imaging and digital photography: potential tools for the quantitative assessment of pigmented lesions.

Background/aims: High-resolution ultrasound (HRU) is a relatively cheap imaging method that shows small quantitative differences between benign naevi and melanoma. Previous studies using B-mode display suggest that these arise from their differing attenuating properties. Attenuation characteristics, however, are better evaluated using reflex transmission imaging (RTI).

Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis in a patient with chronic isolated penile lymphoedema.

Squamous cell carcinoma arising in tissue affected by chronic lymphoedema is rare. We describe, to our knowledge, the first documented case of penile squamous cell carcinoma arising in a patient with a history of idiopathic chronic penile lymphoedema. Patients with chronic lymphoedema should be actively followed for possible malignant changes.

A quantitative lymphoscintigraphic evaluation of lymphatic function in the swollen hands of women with lymphoedema following breast cancer treatment.

In BCRL (breast cancer-related lymphoedema), arm swelling is unevenly distributed and some regions are partly or entirely spared. In particular, the hand may or not be swollen, but when involved functional impairment can be substantial. We have found previously that, when the ipsilateral hand is spared of swelling (in a limb with swelling proximal to the hand), the local lymph drainage rate constant (k) is at least as high as in the contralateral hand, contrary to the traditional 'stopcock' concept of reduced lymph drainage from the whole limb.

Short-term effects of axillary lymph node clearance surgery on lymphatic physiology of the arm in breast cancer.

It is not known why some women develop breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) of the arm, whereas others having similar treatment do not. We speculated that increased uptake of protein into local blood may protect against BCRL. Sixteen women were given bilateral subcutaneous hand webspace injections of polyclonal immunoglobulin (HIgG), (99m)Tc-HIgG on one side and (111)In-HIgG on the other, before and 3 mo after axillary clearance surgery.

Vulval squamous cell carcinoma arising in chronic hidradenitis suppurativa.

We report a case of vulval squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) arising in chronic hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). The patient had a complex medical history including a 25-year-history of Crohn's disease. In addition she had recently received immunosuppressive therapy for nephrotic syndrome secondary to membranous glomerulonephritis.

Lymphoedema-distichiasis and FOXC2: unreported mutations, de novo mutation estimate, families without coding mutations.

Lymphoedema-distichiasis (LD) is a syndromic form of primary lymphoedema, where mutations in the gene for the developmental transcription factor FOXC2 have been shown to be causative. The disorder has been considered very rare, but our group has now ascertained 34 families and 11 sporadic cases in the UK. Two families with LD have no mutation in the coding region of FOXC2, although both are consistent with linkage to the FOXC2 locus.

Mycorrhizal C costs and nutritional benefits in developing grapevines.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) C-costs in grapevines were investigated. Dormant vines rely on stored C for initial growth. Therefore AM colonisation costs would compete with plant growth for available C reserves.

Epithelioid haemangioma in association with a deep arteriovenous malformation.

Epithelioid haemangiomas are benign, vascular tumours characterized by the proliferation of epithelioid endothelial cells with abundant eosinophilic hyaline cytoplasm. We report a case of epithelioid haemangioma in association with a deep arteriovenous malformation of the subclavian artery. The association of reactive vascular proliferations with arteriovenous malformations is uncommonly reported.

In vivo quantification of the structural abnormalities in psoriatic microvessels before and after pulsed dye laser treatment.

Background: Microvascular abnormalities (capillary elongation, widening and tortuosity) are a characteristic feature of psoriasis and form one of the pathological diagnostic criteria. These changes occur early in the progression of a psoriatic plaque, before there is clinical or histological evidence of epidermal hyperplasia. Treatment of psoriatic microvessels with a pulsed dye laser (PDL) has been associated with both clinical improvement and clearance of lesions.

Regional distribution of epifascial swelling and epifascial lymph drainage rate constants in breast cancer-related lymphedema.

Background: The view that breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) is a simple, direct mechanical result of axillary lymphatic obstruction ('stopcock' mechanism) appears incomplete, because parts of the swollen limb (e.g., hand) can remain nonswollen.

The impact on resources of prevalence and nature of skin problems in a modern intensive haemato-oncology practice.

We undertook a randomised prospective observational study to identify the true prevalence of dermatological problems on an acute in-patient haemato-oncology unit treating patients with myeloma and leukaemia (median age 52 years), that could be used to plan for optimum dermatological servicing of such a unit. As a snap-shot, beds were randomly selected each week and the patients in them examined to identify the prevalence and identity of mucocutaneous problems for in-patients. Primary endpoints were the prevalence of integument reactions, prevalence and type of rash.

Porokeratosis in association with lymphoedema.

We describe four patients in whom porokeratosis coexisted with lympoedema of the legs. A possible pathogenetic link between the two disorders is discussed, as well as the therapeutic implications and the novel physical sign of lymphoedema bulging through the porokeratotic lesions.

Milroy disease and the VEGFR-3 mutation phenotype.

Primary congenital lymphoedema (Milroy disease) is a rare autosomal dominant condition for which a major causative gene defect has recently been determined. Mutations in the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) gene have now been described in 13 families world-wide. This is a review of the condition based on the clinical findings in 71 subjects from 10 families.

Blood flow in psoriatic plaques before and after selective treatment of the superficial capillaries.

Background: Blood flow is substantially raised in psoriatic plaques. In addition, mechanisms of vasoconstriction and vasodilatation (locally and neurally mediated), although intact, are altered in magnitude. The elevated blood flow is considered to be a result of abnormalities (increase in vessel number, width and length) in the superficial capillary loops rather than changes in the deeper feeding vessels (arterioles).

Impairment of lymph drainage in subfascial compartment of forearm in breast cancer-related lymphedema.

Background: In arm lymphedema secondary to axillary surgery and radiotherapy (breast cancer-related lymphedema), the swelling is largely epifascial and lymph flow per unit epifascial volume is impaired. The subfascial muscle compartment is not measurably swollen despite the iatrogenic damage to its axillary drainage pathway, but this could be due to its low compliance. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that subfascial lymph drainage too is impaired.