Captopril modulates acetylcholinesterase in human keratinocytes.

Human keratinocytes synthesize and secrete non-neuronal acetylcholine, which acts as a local cell signaling molecule, regulating functions like proliferation, cell adhesion, motility, desmosomal cell contact, and glandular activity. The keratinocyte acetylcholine axis is composed of the enzymes mediating acetylcholine synthesis (acetyltransferase) and degradation (acetylcholinesterase), and two classes of acetylcholine receptors. In this study we investigated the effect of captopril, an ACE-inhibitor, on acetylcholinesterase and acetylcholine secretion in human keratinocytes.

The role of spectrophotometry in the diagnosis of melanoma.

Background: Spectrophotometry (SPT) could represent a promising technique for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM) at earlier stages of the disease. Starting from our experience, we further assessed the role of SPT in CM early detection.

Methods: During a health campaign for malignant melanoma at National Cancer Institute of Naples, we identified a subset of 54 lesions to be addressed to surgical excision and histological examination.

NEMO-binding domain peptide inhibits proliferation of human melanoma cells.

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, it originates from melanocytes and its incidence has increased in the last decade. Recent advances in the understanding of the underlying biology of the progression of melanoma have identified key signalling pathways that are important in promoting melanoma tumourigenesis, thus providing dynamic targets for therapy. One such important target identified in melanoma tumour progression is the Nuclear Factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) pathway.

Giant basal cell carcinoma.

A 72-year-old white man presented with a large cutaneous tumor on his back. The patient said the lesion, mostly asymptomatic, had increased in size for about 7 years. Physical examination revealed a vegetating mass (Figure 1), partially ulcerated, measuring 30 x 20 cm, which easily dripped serum and blood, with small necrotic areas and a sclerotic border.

Granuloma faciale with extrafacial lesions.

A 35-year-old man presented with a 7-year history of gradually enlarging plaques on his face and trunk. The first lesions had developed on both sides of the forehead and the left cheekbone (Figure 1). Four years later similar lesions appeared on his neck and back.

Sporotrichosis: success of itraconazole treatment.

An 82-year-old man with hypothyroidism presented with an ulcerated nodule on the dorsum of his left hand (Figure 1). The lesion had been present for about 3 months. Similar lesions were present along the lymphatic distribution of the dorsum of his left forearm, proximal to the first lesion, as well as the dorsum of his right forearm.

Lingual traumatic ulceration (Riga-Fede disease).

An 11-month-old male infant was referred to our clinic because of a painful ulcer of approximately 5 months' duration on the ventral surface of the tongue (Fig. 1). On physical examination, the lesion was circular (3 cm x 2 cm) with erythematous, raised, and indurated borders.

Human melanoma metastases express functional CXCR4.

Purpose: The chemokine receptor CXCR4 was identified as an independent predictor of poor prognosis in primary melanoma. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of CXCR4 in human melanoma metastases.

Experimental Design: CXCR4 expression was evaluated in melanoma metastases and in metastatic cell lines through immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, and reverse transcription-PCR.

Soluble interleukin-2 receptor in stage I-III melanoma.

The aim of the present study was to assess the prognostic value of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) serum levels in stage I-III melanoma patients. The levels of sIL-2R were determined using an enzyme immunometric test kit in 329 patients affected by malignant melanoma (MM) from 1995 to 2004. Correlations between sIL-2R values, baseline patients and tumour features were studied by contingency tables and the chi-square test.

Early diagnosis of malignant melanoma: Proposal of a working formulation for the management of cutaneous pigmented lesions from the Melanoma Cooperative Group.

Epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) strongly improves the separation of different types of cutaneous pigmented lesions (CPL) and facilitates the early diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM). ELM alone is not 100% accurate in routine diagnosis, and should not be considered the only criterion in the diagnosis of high-risk skin lesions. We have however, demonstrated close agreement between ELM classification criteria and histology in 2,731 cutaneous lesions.

Prognostic value of circulating melanoma cells detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

Purpose: Factors that are predictive of prognosis in patients who are diagnosed with malignant melanoma (MM) are widely awaited. Detection of circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has recently been postulated as a possible negative prognostic factor. Two main questions were addressed: first, whether the presence of CMCs, defined as the patient being positive for any of the three markers, had a prognostic role; and second, what the predictive value of each individual marker was.