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2024 JUL 6 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Oncology - Skin Cancer. According to news [...]

2020 MAY 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- According to news reporting based on a preprint abstract, our journalists obtained [...]

2019 OCT 5 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators discuss new findings in Cellular Physiology - Apoptosis. According to news [...]

HOPEFULLY THIS IS NOT NEWS TO YOU BY NOW: If you spend time in the sun without protecting your skin, you're essentially courting cancer. Need further evidence? Study after study […]

Background: The incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer, basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) is increasing, representing a major medical and economic problem. Imiquimod, a topical small-molecule immune response modifier, has shown efficacy toward BCC and actinic keratoses in clinical trials. Imiquimod acts both indirectly, via cytokine-mediated stimulation of cellular immune responses, and directly, through unknown mechanisms against tumor cells. We examined the mechanism by which imiquimod induces apoptosis in cancer cells. Methods: Apoptosis was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, western blot analysis, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assays in tire SCC, cell lines, HaCaT cells (a spontaneously immortalized human keratinocyte cell line), and normal keratinocytes treated with imiquimod, with its analog resiquimod, or with neither. Expression of death receptors, caspases, and cytochrome c in the apoptotic signaling cascade was analyzed using western blot and flow cytometric analyses. The functional relevance of imiquimod-induced cytochrome c release was assessed by transfection of HaCaT cells with Bcl-2. Apoptosis in BCCs in vivo was assessed by TUNEL assays of imiquimod-treated and untreated tumors from three patients. Differences between treated and untreated cells and tumors were determined using a two-tailed Student's t test. Results: Imiquimod, but not resiquimod, induced apoptosis in all SCC cell lines and HaCaT cells. This induction involved activation of several caspases and Bcl-2-dependent cytosolic translocation of cytochrome c but was independent of the membrane-bound death receptors Fas, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-R1-R4 receptors, and tumor necrosis factor-R1 and -R2 receptors. Topical application of imiquimod to BCC tumors in vivo induced apoptosis. Conclusion: Imiquimod has the potential to induce apoptosis in skin cancer cells, possibly by circumventing mechanisms developed by malignant tumors to resist apoptotic signals.

Practice recommendations * Expect to encounter 6 to 7 cases of basal cell cancer, 1 to 2 cases of squamous cell cancer, and approximately 1 case of melanoma every year. [...]

Background. Investigations of the immune status of patients with skin cancer have had conflicting results, possibly because uniform groups of patients were not studied. Patients who had multiple skin cancers (three or more) were studied to determine whether they had impaired cell-mediated immunity (CMI). Methods. Thirty-four patients and 34 matched control subjects were studied who were younger than 60 years, were not immunosuppressed, and were free from internal cancer. Cell-mediated immunity was tested by the cutaneous reaction to recall antigens (Multitest CMI, Pasteur Merieux, Lyon, France) and the estimation of lymphocyte levels. Results. Patients had significantly lower Multitest CMI scores (P < 0.0005), lower lymphocyte counts (P < 0.02), and were more likely to have a first-degree relative with skin cancer (P < 0.002). Multitest CMI scores decreased with the number of skin cancers removed (P < 0.0006) and were a significant predictor for CD4 (P < 0.04) and CD8 cell counts (P < 0.02). Conclusions. Patients who had multiple skin cancers had impaired CMI, and the degree of impairment correlated with the number of skin cancers removed. Cancer 1995; 76:228--31. Key words: multiple skin cancers, impaired cell-mediated immunity, cutaneous reactions, recall-antigens.

Background. Mucinous eccrine carcinoma (MEC) is a rare malignant tumor that typically arises in the periorbital area. Methods. The authors report the 73rd case of primary MEC of the skin. This patient's clinicopathologic findings and the world literature are reviewed. Results. Patient ages range from 8-84 years (median, 63 years). The male-to-female ratio was approximately 2:1. The racial distribution was 67% white, 32% black, and 4% Asian. Primary MEC originates in the head and neck region in approximately 75% of patients. The most common location was the periorbital area (40% or 29 of 73 patients). The local recurrence rate after conventional surgery was: eyelid, 34%; scalp, 36%; and face, 33%. Conclusions. Primary MEC is often a slow-growing tumor that may recur after traditional surgical excision. Recurrent eyelid MEC tends to be locally destructive with a regional metastatic rate of 3.5% (1 of 29). The regional metastatic rate for all sites was 11%, and the distant metastatic rate was 3%. Cancer 1992; 70:2099-2104.

Raffaele Gianotti, M.D.,* and Carlo Montaperto, M.D.[unkeyable] Background. Primary cutaneous germinal center cell lymphomas (PCGCCL) are B-cell neoplasias; most are mixed cell type, composed of small and large cleaved cells and large noncleaved cells (centrocytes and centroblasts). Because of the significant pleomorphism of the cells, which ranged in size from small elements with indented nuclei to larger ones with multilobulated vesiculous nuclei, histopathologic examination of PCGCCL of mixed cell type has the worst degree of histologic interobserver reproducibility. Methods. In this study, the authors determined whether the light microscopic morphologic classification criteria applied in quantifying cleaved and noncleaved cells in these lymphomas are substantiated by morphometric analysis and have good reproducibility in differentiating the various cell subsets. They used an image analyzer (IBAS 2000, Zeiss Kontron, Munich, Germany) to study 17 centroblastic/centrocytic and centroblastic follicular and/or diffuse primary cutaneous lymphomas. Results. The data obtained showed morphometric differences between the follicular and diffuse patterns of neoplastic cells. In follicular neoplasms, the cells tend to be smaller, more cleaved, and more monomorphic than those observed in the diffuse forms. In all the follicular and diffuse cases, the authors observed a unimodal population with a wide peak composed of cells with intermediate morphometric features that cannot be labeled properly. Conclusions. These data underline the considerable overlap of nuclear parameters of lymphocytes between the subtypes of cells in cutaneous mixed small and large cell lymphoma, making the Kiel classification and Working Formulation unsuitable for this kind of neoplasia and supporting revision of classification criteria in cutaneous germinal center cell lymphomas. Cancer 1992; 70:1905-1910.

Pilomatricoma is generally benign. This tumor develops in the cells of the hair matrix, and the tumor cells themselves tend to differentiate into a form resembling hair cortical cells. However, it is possible for a pilomatricoma to become cancerous; only 29 instances of this uncommon event have been reported in the medical journals. The authors report the case of an 88-year-old woman who died of complications of cancer and its treatment; only after her death was the cancer found to be malignant pilomatricoma. The patient was seen originally because of gradually progressing edema, the accumulation of fluid in the tissues of her right leg. Numerous hard nodules, between 1 and 2 centimeters, were found in the patient's right inguinal region upon physical examination. Similar nodules were not found in other regions, including the abdomen and rectum. A biopsy was performed, and microscopic evaluation of the specimen suggested that the nodule was a lymph node contaminated with cancerous cells from a squamous cell carcinoma. A primary squamous cell carcinoma which could account for these nodules was not found, but the patient was treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Two years after treatment, the patient died of kidney failure. At the time of her death, metastatic cancer could be identified in the skin of her abdomen and in the tissues behind the peritoneal cavity. At autopsy, specimens were obtained for further study. Microscopic specimens were stained using antibodies specific for hair keratin. (The staining properties of this antibody are different from those of other forms of keratin such as epidermal skin keratin.) This hair antibody was found to stain normal hair matrix and the patient's tumor cells; the antibody did not stain components of normal skin, indicating that the tumor was biochemically similar to the hair matrix and was therefore a pilomatricoma. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Ribosomes are complicated structures of RNA and protein necessary for the translation of messenger RNA molecules into proteins. The pieces of a ribosome are assembled in the cell nucleus and then transferred to the cell's cytoplasm before assembly into the protein-producing machinery. Within the nucleus, the ribosomal subunits are manufactured within a structure called the nucleolus; within the nucleolus is the DNA required for the transcription of the RNA necessary for the ribosome. These stretches of DNA and their associated proteins are called the nucleolar organizing regions. These regions are often studied using electron microscopy. The nucleolus itself is large enough to be visible under the light microscope, however, and special staining techniques have been found which make possible the visualization of the nucleolar organizing regions, although it is generally not possible to distinguish every nucleolar organizing region individually. These special staining techniques, which rely upon the affinity of proteins for silver, are collectively called the argyrophilic staining of nucleolar organizing region (AgNOR). AgNOR has now been used to evaluate differences in basal cell carcinomas of the skin which may contribute to the likelihood of cancer invasiveness. Twenty-two specimens of basal cell carcinoma of the skin, a very common form of skin cancer, were examined; in 11 cases the cancer was nonaggressive, and in 11 cases the cancer had recurred, metastasized, or both. Counting the number of discernable nucleolar organizing regions, researchers found that the average for the nonaggressive cancers was 6.56 and the average of the aggressive basal cell cancers was 9.48. This statistically significant difference may prove useful in the identification of patients at higher risk for cancer recurrence or disease spread. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

The development of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common malignancy in the United States, can be viewed as the result of the immune system's failure to detect and eliminate malignant cells. These activities normally occur when antigens (foreign proteins) are presented to cells of the immune system (T cells) in a particular way, and it is possible that antigen presentation is defective in BCC. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating the presence of the adhesion molecules ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule-1) and LFA-3 (lymphocyte function-associated antigen-3) in BCC. These adhesion molecules are located on the surface of certain immune system cells and, when bound (attached) to an appropriate molecular partner, become part of a molecular complex that activates T cells, making them ready for combat. Thirty-four tumors were removed from 26 patients with BCC, and small samples were studied to determine the presence of adhesion molecules. Some specimens were immersed in interferon-gamma (INF-a) or tumor necrosis factor (TNF), two substances known to induce the expression (appearance) of ICAM-1. Ninety-three percent of 30 BCCs did not show the presence of ICAM-1, although cells stained for ICAM-1 were identified in 85 percent of the tumors after incubation with IFN-gamma. TNF did not increase the number of cells that appeared to express ICAM-1. Eleven tumors showed the presence of LFA-3. Possible explanations for the absence of ICAM-1 in BCC are discussed. Overall, the results suggest that BCC does not activate the immune system as well as other skin tumors because the adhesion molecules essential for activation of T cells are lacking. A therapeutic application of these results could be the use of interferon-gamma, either alone or with interferon-alpha, in the treatment of BCC. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

The host inflammatory response, in cases of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), was studied using immunocytochemical techniques. The characteristic phenomenon of tumor regression is an unusual feature of CMM. A series of fresh, surgically excised specimens of CMM and two other lesions, lentigo maligna and intradermal nevi, were studied. Antibodies against the following cluster of differentiation (CD) antigens were used: CD-3, CD-4, CD-8 (T-cell markers), CD-11b, CD-14 (macrophage marker), CD-16 (antigen expressed by natural killer cells and granulocytes), and CD-25. A better understanding of the relationship of the natural killer (NK) cells with the CMM cells was the objective of these studies. A number of cell populations with morphological and immunophenotypic characteristics correlating with NK cells were demonstrated, and were associated with 10 of the 16 primary CMM lesions studied. These cells were absent from the other benign lesions examined. The relationship between NK cells and CMM cells may provide additional information for assessing treatment modalities for melanomas. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

This Photo Rounds aims to help you hone your visual diagnostic skills to recognize the 3 most common types of skin cancer (in order of prevalence): basal cell carcinoma, squamous [...]

A new study, 'Cytoplasmic accumulation of the RNA-binding protein HuR stabilizes the ornithine decarboxylase transcript in a murine nonmelanoma skin cancer model,' is now available. According to recent research from [...]

A 59-year-old man has a history of unusual moles on his back. For years they remained asymptomatic, but recently one of the lesions began to enlarge. The patient's brother has [...]

Certain types of cancer may be bad news for your skin but good news for your brain, new research suggests. A study of 1,102 individuals with an average age of [...]