The prognostic value of a reverse transcriptase-PCR assay of sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients with cutaneous melanoma: a single-center analysis in Japan.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the standard of care for staging melanoma. However, limited research has been carried out on the prognostic value of SLNB in patients with primary cutaneous melanoma in Asian countries. The objective is to evaluate the efficacy of SLNB in Japanese patients with primary cutaneous melanoma and to elucidate whether reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR analysis of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) is valuable for predicting patient outcome.

Expression of p16 and hTERT protein is associated with the presence of high-risk human papillomavirus in Bowenoid papulosis.

Background: High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) type E6 and E7 oncoproteins contribute to oncogenesis in multiple ways by modulating the activities of host components in cell-cycle regulation including the expression of p16 protein (p16) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). The expression of p16 and hTERT protein in Bowenoid papulosis (BP) has not been studied.

Methods: Biopsy samples of BP from 26 patients were subjected to in situ hybridization for various HPV strains and immunohistochemical staining for p16 and hTERT.

Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis with systemic sclerosis, limited type resulting in a poor prognosis.

Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a rare disease characterized by the presence of multilocular intramural clusters of gas in the alimentary tract and has been considered to have a favorable response to conservative treatment. We describe the first case of limited type of systemic sclerosis (SSc) with PCI. A 74-year-old Japanese woman presented with a 4-month history of an unhealed cutaneous ulcer on the right third finger, along with sclerodactyly of bilateral hands.

Anti-CXCR3 staining is useful for detecting human cutaneous and mucosal mast cells.

Human synovial mast cells (MC) can be immunolabelled with antihuman CXCR3 antibody (Ab) (clone 49801). We have investigated whether cutaneous and mucosal MC are stained with anti-CXCR3 Ab in paraffin-embedded sections. Immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence double staining assays were performed with anti-CXCR3, anti-tryptase, and anti-chymase Ab using normal skin, psoriatic skin lesions, and normal colon.

Novel strategy for soft tissue augmentation based on transplantation of fragmented omentum and preadipocytes.

Current therapeutic procedures for soft tissue augmentation still lack the ability to induce rapidly formation of adipose tissue and its long-term stability, which is determined by rapid revascularization. The omentum is highly vascularized with microvascular endothelial cells (ECs) and is composed mainly of adipocytes that produce an enormously high level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The aim of this study was to determine the potential usefulness of fragmented omentum tissues, with or without cotransplantation with preadipocytes, in soft tissue augmentation.

Clinical evaluation of allogeneic cultured dermal substitutes for intractable skin ulcers after tumor resection.

Clinical research on allogeneic cultured dermal substitute (CDS), which was newly developed at the R&D Center for Artificial Skin of Kitasato University, has been carried out in medical centers across Japan with the support of the Millennium Project of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan. Allogeneic CDS was prepared by cultivation of fibroblasts on a two-layered spongy matrix of hyaluronic acid and atelo-collagen. This paper reports the clinical results of application of allogeneic CDS in 12 patients with full-thickness skin defects after surgical resection of skin tumors.

Photocured, styrenated gelatin-based microspheres for de novo adipogenesis through corelease of basic fibroblast growth factor, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor I.

De novo adipose tissue formation appears to proceed via two different biological events: neovascularization and spontaneous accumulation of preadipocytes and subsequent differentiation to mature adipocytes. In this article, we perform accelerated de novo adipose tissue engineering using photocured, styrenated, gelatin-based microspheres (SGMs) with different drug release rates of immobilized angiogenic and adipogenic factors. The concept of this system is to induce neovascularization and migration of endogenous preadipocytes by the rapid delivery of the angiogenic factor basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), followed by the proliferation and differentiation of preadipocytes into adipocytes by the prolonged delivery of the adipogenic factors, insulin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I).