Cultured human sole-derived keratinocyte grafts re-express site-specific differentiation after transplantation.

Cultured epithelial autografts (CEA) derived from sole skin were transplanted to full-thickness wounds excised to muscle fascia over a variety of diverse body sites in 12 pediatric patients treated for acute burns or giant congenital nevi. The skin regenerated from the grafts was biopsied from 7 days to 6 years after grafting. The resultant epidermal phenotype was analyzed histologically and by immunohistochemical localization of keratin 9 (K9) as objective evidence of sole-type site-specific differentiation.

Cellular characterization and successful transfection of serially subcultured normal human esophageal keratinocytes.

Background: In vitro cell culture models can provide unique insights into squamous epithelial proliferation, differentiation, and neoplastic transformation. Cultures of human esophageal keratinocytes could be advantageous for the study of these processes.

Methods: Normal human esophageal keratinocytes were cultivated on 3T3 fibroblast feeder layers in vitro and expanded through four serial subcultivations.

Melanocytes in cultured epithelial grafts are depleted with serial subcultivation and cryopreservation: implications for clinical outcome.

Patchy hypopigmentation often occurs unpredictably in the skin regenerated from cultured epidermal autografts, especially when that skin is grown from frozen cells, serially passaged, or both. The impact of serial subcultivation and cryopreservation on melanocyte viability in the cultured epidermal autograft culture system was investigated. Serial subcultivation of human keratinocytes through as many as eight passages was performed, and melanocyte densities in confluent cultures at each passage were determined after specific labeling of melanocytes.

Organized skin structure is regenerated in vivo from collagen-GAG matrices seeded with autologous keratinocytes.

A well-characterized collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrix (CGM) that has been shown to function as a dermal analog was seeded with freshly disaggregated autologous keratinocytes and applied to full-thickness wounds in a porcine model. CGM were impregnated with 50,000 keratinocytes per cm2, a seeding density that produces a confluent epidermis within 19 d post-grafting and affords a 60-fold surface expansion of the donor epidermis. In this study, the temporal sequence of events in epidermal and neodermal formation was analyzed histopathologically and immunohistochemically from 4 to 35 d post-grafting.

Changes in tumor proliferation of rectal cancer induced by preoperative 5-fluorouracil and irradiation.

Purpose: This study examines the effect of 5-fluorouracil administration during preoperative irradiation on rectal cancer tumor proliferation.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and fifty-three patients with locally advanced rectal cancer received 45 to 50 Gy of preoperative irradiation with (103 patients) and without (50 patients) concurrent 5-fluorouracil, followed by surgery. Pretreatment tumor biopsies and postirradiation surgical specimens were scored for proliferative activity by assaying the extent of Ki-67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining and the number of mitoses per ten high-powered fields.

Tumor proliferation in rectal cancer following preoperative irradiation.

Purpose: This study examines the effect of preoperative irradiation on tumor proliferation in rectal cancer.

Patients And Methods: One hundred twenty-two patients with locally advanced rectal cancer received 45 to 50 Gy of preoperative irradiation followed by surgery. Pretreatment tumor biopsies and postirradiation surgical specimens were scored for proliferative activity by assaying the extent of Ki-67 and proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunostaining and the number of mitoses per 10 high-power fields (hpf).

Rectal cancer: the influence of tumor proliferation on response to preoperative irradiation.

Purpose: Regression of rectal carcinoma after preoperative irradiation is variable, likely reflecting differences in the physical and biologic properties of these tumors. This study examines the association between the pathologic response of rectal cancer after irradiation and its pretreatment proliferative state as assayed by the activity of the proliferative dependent antigens (Ki-67, PCNA) and mitotic counts.

Methods And Materials: One hundred and twenty-two patients with locally advanced rectal cancer received preoperative irradiation followed by surgery.

The generation of anchoring fibrils by epidermal keratinocytes: a quantitative long-term study.

Anchoring fibrils (AFs) are derived from basal keratinocytes, but the kinetics of their formation is unknown. In this study, de novo generation of AFs by cultured human keratinocyte autografts was assessed from 1 week to 6 years postgrafting. Within 2 weeks, AF population densities were equal to those of normal controls and remained normal thereafter.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen and mitotic activity in rectal cancer: predictor of response to preoperative irradiation.

Purpose: This study examines the association between the pathologic response of rectal cancer after irradiation and its pretreatment proliferative state as assayed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and mitotic activity.

Patients And Methods: Ninety patients with clinical stage T3 and T4 rectal cancer received preoperative irradiation followed by surgery. Pretreatment tumor biopsies were scored for PCNA activity (number of tumor cells staining immunohistochemically with an anti-PCNA monoclonal antibody) and the number of mitoses per 10 high-powered fields (hpf).