Basophil-derived amphiregulin is essential for UVB irradiation-induced immune suppression.

UVB irradiation (290-320 nm) is used to treat skin diseases like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, and is known to suppress contact hypersensitivity (CHS) reactions in mouse models. Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) have been shown to be responsible for this UVB-induced suppression of CHS. The epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like growth factor amphiregulin (AREG) engages EGFR on Treg cells and, in different disease models, it was shown that mast cell-derived AREG is essential for optimal Treg cell function in vivo.

Assessment of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers by digital photography in human skin.

UV-mediated DNA damage and repair are important mechanisms in research on UV-induced carcinogenesis. UV-induced DNA-damage and repair can be determined by immunohistochemical staining of photoproduct positive nuclei of keratinocytes in the epidermis. We developed a new method of analysing and quantifying thymine dimer (TT-CPD) positive cells in the epidermis.

Photosensitivity testing in children.

Background: Phototesting is an important diagnostic tool to objectify light-related symptoms. Data on phototesting procedures in children are scarce.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate phototest results in photosensitivity disorders in children.

Cost effectiveness of home ultraviolet B phototherapy for psoriasis: economic evaluation of a randomised controlled trial (PLUTO study).

Objective: To assess the costs and cost effectiveness of phototherapy with ultraviolet B light provided at home compared with outpatient ultraviolet B phototherapy for psoriasis.

Design: Cost utility, cost effectiveness, and cost minimisation analyses performed alongside a pragmatic randomised clinical trial (the PLUTO study) at the end of phototherapy (mean 17.6 weeks) and at one year after the end of phototherapy (mean 68.

Home versus outpatient ultraviolet B phototherapy for mild to severe psoriasis: pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (PLUTO study).

Objective: To determine whether ultraviolet B phototherapy at home is equally safe and equally effective as ultraviolet B phototherapy in an outpatient setting for patients with psoriasis.

Design: Pragmatic multicentre single blind randomised clinical trial (PLUTO study).

Setting: Dermatology departments of 14 hospitals in the Netherlands.

Throwing a light on photosensitivity in atopic dermatitis: a retrospective study.

Background: Photosensitivity in atopic dermatitis (AD) is a well known but ill-defined phenomenon.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of photosensitivity in patients with AD, define its clinical characteristics, and analyze the photo provocation test (phototest) results.

Methods: A retrospective study of patients with AD who were phototested because of suspected photosensitivity at our department during the period 1994-2004.

Narrowband ultraviolet B and medium-dose ultraviolet A1 are equally effective in the treatment of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.

Background: Phototherapy may be effective in atopic dermatitis (AD). Medium-dose (MD) ultraviolet (UV) A1 was introduced for the treatment of AD. Few immunohistochemical data are available pertaining to phototherapy in AD.

In vivo nonlinear spectral imaging microscopy of visible and ultraviolet irradiated hairless mouse skin tissues.

We demonstrate the capability of nonlinear spectral imaging microscopy (NSIM) in investigating ultraviolet and visible light induced effects on albino Skh:HR-1 hairless mouse skin non-invasively.

Neutrophil infiltration in normal human skin after exposure to different ultraviolet radiation sources.

Exposure of the skin to UV radiation can lead to a local infiltration of neutrophils. Not much is known on whether the infiltration of neutrophils in the irradiated skin is UV source dependent. In this study we compared different UV sources (solar-simulated radiation [SSR], narrowband [NB]-UVB, broadband [BB]-UVB and UVA1) in their potency to induce neutrophil infiltration in normal human skin after exposure to two times the minimal erythema dose of UV radiation.

The polymorphous light eruption-severity assessment score does not reliably predict the results of phototesting.

Background: Polymorphous light eruption (PLE) is a very common photodermatosis in which patient history is highly specific. Phototesting is used to confirm the diagnosis and to determine the action spectrum and the severity of this disease. In daily practice and in research studies, it would be convenient to assess disease severity by patient history only.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria without skin symptoms-you do not always see what they feel.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an inherited disorder of the porphyrin metabolism that often remains undiagnosed in children. We report on a 4-year-old girl who had been suffering for 1 year from recurrent painful crises affecting her hands, feet, and nose following sun exposure. Objective skin lesions were absent until the age of 6.

Photopatch testing of 1155 patients: results of the U.K. multicentre photopatch study group.

Background: Photoallergic contact dermatitis can be difficult to diagnose if not appropriately investigated. Currently, the most common U.K.

UVB phototherapy in an outpatient setting or at home: a pragmatic randomised single-blind trial designed to settle the discussion. The PLUTO study.

Background: Home ultraviolet B (UVB) treatment is a much-debated treatment, especially with regard to effectiveness, safety and side effects. However, it is increasingly being prescribed, especially in the Netherlands. Despite ongoing discussions, no randomised research has been performed, and only two studies actually compare two groups of patients.

UV hardening therapy: a novel intervention in patients with photosensitive cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

Background: Patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE) and a history of disease- related photoaggravation, confirmed by phototesting, may not respond to photoprotection and/or medical intervention. Ultraviolet B-hardening therapy may improve tolerance for environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in photosensitive disorders.

Objective: We studied the effect of UVB hardening on the cutaneous manifestations of patients with LE and their tolerance for UVR.

Responses of black and white skin to solar-simulating radiation: differences in DNA photodamage, infiltrating neutrophils, proteolytic enzymes induced, keratinocyte activation, and IL-10 expression.

Black skin is more resistant to the deleterious effects of ultraviolet radiation than white skin. A higher melanin content and a different melanosomal dispersion pattern in the epidermis are thought to be responsible for this. Our purpose was to compare skin responses in black and white skin following exposure to solar-simulating radiation (SSR) to further investigate the photoprotective properties of black skin.

Photodynamic treatment and H2O2-induced oxidative stress result in different patterns of cellular protein oxidation.

Photodynamic treatment (PDT) is an emerging therapeutic procedure for the management of cancer, based on the use of photosensitizers, compounds that generate highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) on irradiation with visible light. The ROS generated may oxidize a variety of biomolecules within the cell, loaded with a photosensitizer. The high reactivity of these ROS restricts their radius of action to 5-20 nm from the site of their generation.

Photosensitivity in patients with lupus erythematosus: a clinical and photobiological study of 100 patients using a prolonged phototest protocol.

Background: There is a clear relationship between ultraviolet (UV) radiation (UVR) and the clinical manifestations of patients with lupus erythematosus (LE). Cutaneous lesions are induced or exacerbated by exposure to UVR. Of patients with LE, 24-83% are reported to be photosensitive to UVR.

Narrowband UVB and psoralen-UVA in the treatment of early-stage mycosis fungoides: a retrospective study.

Background: Treatment of early-stage mycosis fungoides (MF) consists of topical steroids, phototherapy (UVB), photochemotherapy (psoralen plus UVA [PUVA]), topical nitrogen mustard, or total skin electron-beam irradiation. It has been reported that the same effective UVB dose is safer than PUVA regarding carcinogenicity and produces fewer side effects. Narrowband UVB (311 nm) results in less irritation and erythema and is more effective compared with broadband UVB.

Epidermal langerhans cell depletion after artificial ultraviolet B irradiation of human skin in vivo: apoptosis versus migration.

Ultraviolet B radiation can suppress cellular immunity. One of the mechanisms related to this immunosuppression is the disappearance of Langerhans cells from the epidermis. The aim of this study was to establish the mechanism of ultraviolet B-induced Langerhans cell disappearance in healthy individuals.