Extracorporeal photochemotherapy as systemic monotherapy of severe, refractory atopic dermatitis: results from a prospective trial.

Background: Previous work has indicated that extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) may be a safe and effective treatment in patients with severe atopic dermatitis.

Methods: We performed a prospective study to investigate the effect of a defined 20-week ECP protocol in patients with severe, refractory atopic dermatitis. The patient inclusion criteria included (i) disease duration of at least 1 year, (ii) SCORAD > 45, and (iii) resistance to first-line therapy, including topical steroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors, and one form of phototherapy (UVA, UVB, or PUVA) or one second-line therapy, including systemic steroids or cyclosporine.

A liquid-film forming acrylate cream for the treatment of anal pruritus.

Pruritus ani is a hidden but frequently occurring clinical condition, with a large impact on patients' quality of life. Currently, therapeutic options are scarce, offering mainly limited success. The authors performed a prospective, open-label, two-centre pilot study to analyse the efficacy and safety of a liquid-film forming acrylate cream for the treatment of pruritus ani and peri-anal skin irritation.

Differential mRNA expression of antimicrobial peptides and proteins in atopic dermatitis as compared to psoriasis vulgaris and healthy skin.

Background: Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) are prone to have skin infections. We aimed to investigate mRNA expression levels of various antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) in AD patients, and compare it with psoriasis vulgaris (PV) patients and healthy subjects.

Methods: Skin biopsies were obtained from healthy subjects and patients with AD and PV.

Tacrolimus ointment neither blocks ultraviolet B nor affects expression of thymine dimers and p53 in human skin.

Background: There is a lack of data with regard to the interaction between ultraviolet (UV) radiation and topical calcineurin inhibitors.

Objective: We aimed to investigate (1) the UV transmission through tacrolimus ointment and (2) the impact of topical exposure to tacrolimus on the protein expression of thymine dimers (TD) and p53 in human skin.

Methods: Spectrophotometric measurements (290-400 nm) of tacrolimus ointment and the vehicle were performed.

Extracorporeal photopheresis as a treatment for patients with severe, refractory atopic dermatitis.

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex disease with a variety of possible treatment regimens. The study objective was to demonstrate that methoxsalen used in conjunction with the Uvar XTS photopheresis system (Therakos, Exton, Pa., USA) is safe and can have a clinical effect on the skin manifestations and the quality of life in patients with severe, refractory AD.

Differential expression of decorin in localized scleroderma following ultraviolet-A1 irradiation.

Patients with localized scleroderma underwent an 8-week course of ultraviolet A1 phototherapy. At baseline, decorin levels of lesional skin were significantly lower than those of nonlesional skin and healthy control subjects. After ultraviolet A1 phototherapy, decorin levels of lesional skin were significantly higher than baseline.

Topical tacrolimus neither prevents nor abolishes ultraviolet-induced erythema.

A dose- and vehicle-controlled study on the pretreatment and posttreatment effect of 0.1% tacrolimus ointment on erythema induced by solar-simulated ultraviolet (UV) radiation was performed. Surprisingly, comparisons of clinical erythema scores and colorimetric data obtained 24 and 72 hours after UV exposure did not reveal significant differences between the control, tacrolimus, and vehicle preirradiation and postirradiation treated sites (P > .

Ultraviolet A1 phototherapy decreases inhibitory SMAD7 gene expression in localized scleroderma.

Localized scleroderma (LS) is a connective skin disease with marked sclerosis of the skin as the most prominent feature. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of sclerotic skin diseases. Recently, special attention was contributed to a family of transcription factor proteins involved in TGF-beta signal transduction from cell surface to the nucleus, the so-called SMADs.

A comparative pilot study on ultraviolet-induced skin changes assessed by noninvasive imaging techniques in vivo.

The effects of acute and chronic ultraviolet (UV) on the morphology of human skin have been extensively studied ex vivo by means of histological investigations. However, innovative skin imaging techniques enable visualization of micromorphological structures in vivo. We aimed to perform a correlation study evaluating in vivo dose and time dependent skin changes following solar-simulated irradiation using noninvasive techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).

Staphylococcal toxins in patients with psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and erythroderma, and in healthy control subjects.

Background: The aggravating role of Staphylococcus aureus superantigens is well known in atopic dermatitis (AD) but has not yet been proven in psoriasis (PS).

Objective: We investigated the distribution of S aureus in the skin and nares of patients with AD, PS vulgaris, erythroderma, skin infections, and sepsis, and in healthy control subjects. A Staphylococcal enterotoxin test-reversed passive latex agglutination (SET-RPLAR) test was performed to determine Staphylococcal enterotoxins A, B, C, and D.