Lichenoid Dermatitis of the Vulva: Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis for the Gynecologic Pathologist.

Inflammatory processes affecting the vulva may present a unique challenge due to location specific changes. Different factors are behind the intricacy in the presentation of vulvar dermatoses. First, the vulva is lined by different epithelia (hair-bearing keratinized epithelium, modified mucosa, and mucosa).

From keratinocyte to cancer: the pathogenesis and modeling of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most common human cancer with over 250,000 new cases annually in the US and is second in incidence only to basal cell carcinoma. cSCC typically manifests as a spectrum of progressively advanced malignancies, ranging from a precursor actinic keratosis (AK) to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in situ (SCCIS), invasive cSCC, and finally metastatic SCC. In this Review we discuss clinical and molecular parameters used to define this range of cutaneous neoplasia and integrate these with the multiple experimental approaches used to study this disease.

Penile erosions associated with foscarnet therapy in a child.

Foscarnet-induced genital erosions have been reported in patients treated for HIV-related herpesvirus infections in adults. We report the case of a boy with penile erosions associated with foscarnet therapy in the setting of umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT).

Srcasm inhibits Fyn-induced cutaneous carcinogenesis with modulation of Notch1 and p53.

Src family tyrosine kinases (SFK) regulate cell proliferation, and increased SFK activity is common in human carcinomas, including cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and its precursors. The elevated SFK activity in cutaneous SCCs was modeled using K14-Fyn Y528F transgenic mice, which spontaneously form punctate keratotic lesions, scaly plaques, and large tumors resembling actinic keratoses, SCC in situ, and SCCs, respectively. Lesional tissue showed increased levels of activated SFKs, PDK1, STAT3, and ERK1/2, whereas Notch1/NICD protein and transcript levels were decreased.

Leptin selectively augments thymopoiesis in leptin deficiency and lipopolysaccharide-induced thymic atrophy.

The thymus is a lymphoid organ that selects T cells for release to the peripheral immune system. Unfortunately, thymopoiesis is highly susceptible to damage by physiologic stressors and can contribute to immune deficiencies that occur in a variety of clinical settings. No treatment is currently available to protect the thymus from stress-induced involution.