Histamine in normal and malignant cell proliferation.

Histamine is a biogenic amine widely distributed throughout the body. Given the observations that histamine can be induced and made available in an unstored diffusible form in tissues undergoing rapid growth (such as tumors and regenerating liver), it could have a role beyond inflammatory and allergic responses.

[Plasmacytic skin infiltration in multiple myeloma].

Unlabelled: Authors present a case of a therapy-resistant multiple myeloma who developed plasmacytic skin infiltration in the course of the disease.

Aim: To define characteristics of skin infiltrating plasma cells, which differentiate them from those cells residing in the bone marrow in order to contribute to a better understanding of the epidermoinvasion process.

Methods: Histidine decarboxylase is the only enzyme capable for histamine synthesis having significance in cell proliferation.

Histamine suppresses fibulin-5 and insulin-like growth factor-II receptor expression in melanoma.

We previously showed that transgenic enhancement of histamine production in B16-F10 melanomas strongly supports tumor growth in C57BL/6 mice. In the present study, gene expression profiles of transgenic mouse melanomas, secreting different amounts of histamine, were compared by whole genome microarrays. Array results were validated by real-time PCR, and genes showing histamine-affected behavior were further analyzed by immunohistochemistry.

Decreased expression of histamine H1 and H4 receptors suggests disturbance of local regulation in human colorectal tumours by histamine.

Production of histamine in colon tumours has been described earlier. Histamine-mediated signals have been shown to be implicated in tumour growth, and the effects of histamine are largely determined locally by the histamine receptor expression pattern. We analysed histamine receptor expression in human colorectal cancer, adenoma and normal mucosa by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot analysis and immunostaining.