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European journal of dermatology : EJD. 12/2012;
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Mariano Suppa,
Gianfranco Altomare,
Serafinella P Cannavò, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Caterina Catricalà,
Enrico Colombo,
Maria C Fargnoli,
Barbara Fossati,
Pasquale Frascione,
Paolo Lisi,
Marcello Santini,
Massimiliano Scalvenzi,
Ketty Peris
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ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Melanoma incidence/mortality is increasing worldwide. "Euromelanoma Day" is a pan-European campaign for skin cancer prevention. Results of the 2010 Euromelanoma Day in Italy are reported herein. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire was used to collect data on participants' characteristics and suspected skin cancers. RESULT: A total of 1085 participants was screened (64.1% females, median age 44 years). Suspicion rate, detection rate, and positive predictive values for melanoma were 1.3, 0.28 and 21.4%, respectively. Poorly educated, ≥35 years old, pale-skinned males were at higher risk for skin cancer than highly educated, <35 years old, darker-skinned females, although the latter groups reported sun-seeking behaviors. Full skin examination and dermoscopy were performed in 85.5 and 79.2% of participants. CONCLUSIONS: The 2010 Italian Euromelanoma Day produced good results in terms of melanoma detection/suspicion rates, likely due to the extensive use of full clinical and dermoscopic examinations. The campaign failed to attract many high-risk individuals. Targeted communication strategies are needed to this regard.
International journal of dermatology 12/2012; · 1.18 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A 9-year-old girl, presented with a 4-week history of an inflammatory suppurative plaque, 8 cm in diameter, localised in the occipital area of the scalp. Mycological direct examination showed ectoendothrix invasion of the hair and Trichophyton mentagrophytes was isolated. Oral therapy with griseofulvin 25 mg kg(-1) day(-1) was prescribed, but after 2 weeks of treatment appeared multiple erythematous subcutaneous nodules localised in the legs. Erythema nodosum (EN) was confirmed by histological examination of a nodule and then we combined therapy with 1 mg Kg(-1) day(-1) of prednisone. At the remission of the panniculitis, which occurred in about 10 days, the steroid therapy was suspended, while the orally administered griseofulvin continued for 6 weeks until full recovery. EN is the most frequent clinical form of acute nodular panniculitis and it is considered an epiphenomenon relative to various infectious and non-infectious stimuli. The association of EN with dermatophytosis of the scalp is infrequent, with only 15 cases reported in the Literature.
Mycoses 11/2012; · 2.25 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Base excision repair plays a key role in the removing of DNA damage from exposure to endogenous and exogenous carcinogens. The BER pathway removes alterations of a single oxidized, reduced or methylated base. Recently some studies have explored the association between risk for cutaneous melanoma and non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in DNA-repair genes, although with contradictory results. We hypothesized that common nsSNPs of BER genes, specifically ADPRT rs1136410, XRCC1 rs25487, rs25489, rs1799782, APEX1 rs1130409, OGG1 rs1052133, LIG3 rs3136025 and MUTYH rs3219466, may contribute to risk of melanoma. The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not a correlation between these nsSNPs and melanoma risk and/or aggressiveness is present. 167 melanoma patients and 186 healthy control subjects were analysed. By multivariate statistical analysis no association was found between nsSNP and melanoma aggressiveness, while only the two XRCC1 (rs25487 and rs25489) nsSNPs showed a strong correlation (p<0.001) with melanoma risk. To our knowledge this is the first study reporting an association between BER nsSNPs and melanoma risk in Central-South Italian individuals. Our findings, if confirmed in larger population studies, will allow the inclusion of these XRCC1 nsSNPs in a screening panel for those individuals at higher risk for melanoma.
Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry 06/2012; 413(19-20):1519-24. · 2.54 Impact Factor
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European journal of dermatology : EJD. 06/2012; 22(4):574-5.
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Francesca Paolini,
Angelo Carbone,
Maria Benevolo,
Vitaliano Silipo,
Francesca Rollo,
Renato Covello,
Paolo Piemonte,
Pasquale Frascione, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Caterina Catricalà,
Aldo Venuti
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ABSTRACT: The pathogenic role of beta-HPVs in non melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), is not still completely understood, and literature data indicate that they might be at least cofactors in the development of certain cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas. However, only few reports contain data on basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The HPVs interact with many cellular proteins altering their function or the expression levels, like the p16INK4a and Akt. Our study aimed to determine the presence of different beta -HPV types and the expression of p16INK4a and Akt in BCC, the commonest NMSC, in the normal appearing perilesional skin and in forehead swab of 37 immunocompetent patients.
The expression of p16INK4a and Akt, by immunohistochemistry, and the HPV DNA, by nested PCR, were investigated in each sample.
No correspondence of HPV types between BCC and swab samples was found, whereas a correspondence between perilesional skin and BCC was ascertained in the 16,7% of the patients. In BCC, 16 different types of beta HPV were found and the most frequent types were HPV107 (15,4%), HPV100 (11,5%) and HPV15 (11,5%) all belonging to the beta HPV species 2. Immunohistochemistry detected significant p16INK4a expression in almost all tumor samples (94,3%) with the highest percentages (> 30%) of positive cells detected in 8 cases. A statistically significant (p = 0,012) increase of beta HPV presence was detected in p16INK4a strongly positive samples, in particular of species 2. pAkt expression was detected in all tumor samples with only 2 cases showing rare positive cells, whereas Akt2 expression was found in 14 out of 35 BCC (40%); in particular in HPV positive samples over-expressing p16INK4a.
Our data show that p16INK4a and pAkt are over-expressed in BCC and that the high expression of p16INK4a and of Akt2 isoform is often associated with the presence of beta-HPV species 2 (i.e. HPV 15). The association of these viruses with the up-regulation of p16INK4a and Akt/PI3K pathway suggests that in a subtype of BCC these viruses may exert a role in the carcinogenesis or in other, still undefined, biological property of these tumors. If this particular type of BCC reflects a different biology it will remain undisclosed until further studies on a larger number of samples will be performed.
Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 11/2011; 30:108. · 2.15 Impact Factor
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European journal of dermatology: EJD 08/2011; 21(4):611-2. · 2.53 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The combination of etanercept, a tumour necrosis factor α inhibitor, with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy has recently been reported to be effective in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, yielding better results than either monotherapy. To assess the efficacy and safety of this combined treatment using the lower approved etanercept dosage. In this single-arm open-label study patients received etanercept 50 mg once weekly combined with NB-UVB phototherapy three times weekly for 8 weeks, followed by etanercept alone until week 12. We evaluated the proportion of patients achieving 75%, 90% and 100% improvement of their initial PASI score (PASI75, PASI90, and PASI100, respectively). Patients were 19 men and 14 women, mean age 48.3 years ± 12.1 standard deviation (SD) and mean baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score 22.5 ± 7.5. On treatment weeks 4, 8, and 12, 24.2%, 66.7%, and 81.8% of patients achieved PASI75; 8.0%, 15.1%, and 57.6% reached PASI90, and 0%, 6.0%, and 24.2% attained PASI100, respectively. There were no severe side effects. Low-dosage etanercept combined with NB-UVB phototherapy is an effective, safe and economical approach to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Further studies are clearly required to assess its long-term efficacy and safety.
European journal of dermatology: EJD 06/2011; 21(4):568-72. · 2.53 Impact Factor
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European journal of dermatology: EJD 03/2011; 21(2):277-8. · 2.53 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: MUTYH glycosylase recognizes the 8-oxoG:A mismatch and is able to excise the adenine base using proofreading mechanisms. Some papers have reported a strong association between cancer development or aggressiveness and MUTYH gene mutations. The aim of this study was to find a possible association between the most frequent MUTYH mutations and melanoma in the context of a case-control pilot study. One hundred ninety-five melanoma patients and 195 healthy controls were matched for sex and age. Clinical and laboratory data were collected in a specific database and all individuals were analyzed for MUTYH mutations by high-resolution melting and direct sequencing techniques. Men and women had significantly different distributions of tumor sites and phototypes. No significant associations were observed between the Y165C, G382D and V479F MUTYH mutations and risk of melanoma development or aggressiveness. Our preliminary findings therefore do not confirm a role for MUTYH gene mutations in the melanoma risk. Further studies are necessary for the assessment of MUTYH not only in melanoma but also other cancer types with the same embryonic origin, in the context of larger arrays studies of genes involved in DNA stability or integrity.
The International journal of biological markers 01/2011; 26(1):37-42. · 1.48 Impact Factor
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Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 06/2010; 62(6):1067-9. · 3.99 Impact Factor
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Francesca Vendittelli,
Concetta Santonocito,
Andrea Paradisi,
Federica Romitelli,
Paola Concolino,
Sara Lanza Silveri,
Teresa Sisto, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Caterina Catricalà,
Antonio Mulè,
Aldo Di Carlo,
Cecilia Zuppi,
Ettore Capoluongo
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ABSTRACT: To develop a new absolute quantitative real-time PCR method for blood mRNA tyrosinase assay and to compare this new method with standard RT-PCR nested.
Ten blood of melanoma patients (stages I-III), 5 tissue samples, 2 surgical fresh metastatic skin and 3 lymph nodes paraffin-embedded slices were analysed, and 10 negative controls were used. Ten millilitres of blood was analysed for each individual. Three different protocols for RNA extraction and two reverse transcription methods were used. Specific human tyrosinase cDNA fragment was cloned into pcDNA3+ vector and then titrated for the standard curve construction (from 10(6) to 10(1)copies/microl). Recovery assays for RNA and cells were also performed.
Our method was able to detect less than 5 cells/10(8) WBC and about 100 fg of tyrosinase RNA. Very low CVs (<1.5%) were obtained on all samples run in triplicate. Sensitivity and specificity were of 100%. The amount of starting volume of blood was crucial for the determination of copy number since large volumes are necessary for patient's monitoring.
Our absolute qRT-PCR assay could be proposed as a new standardized molecular method for the management of melanoma patients, particularly for the follow up of the highest AJCC stages.
Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry 09/2009; 409(1-2):100-5. · 2.54 Impact Factor
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Angelo Carbone,
Laura Bernardini,
Francesco Valenzano,
Irene Bottillo,
Clara De Simone, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Anna Capalbo,
Francesca Romano,
Antonio Novelli,
Bruno Dallapiccola,
Pierluigi Amerio
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ABSTRACT: The etiology of mycosis fungoides (MF), the most frequent form of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL), is poorly understood. No specific genetic aberration has been detected, especially in early-stage disease, possibly due to the clinical and histological heterogeneity of patient series and to the different sources of malignant cells (skin, blood, or lymph node) included in most studies. Frozen skin biopsies from 16 patients with early-stage MF were studied using array-based comparative genomic hybridization. A DNA pool from healthy donors was used as the reference. Results demonstrated recurrent loss of 19, 7p22.1-p22.3, 7q11.1-q11.23, 9q34.12, 12q24.31, and 16q22.3-q23.1, and gain of 8q22.3-q23.1 and 21q22.12. The 12q24.31 region was recurrently deleted in 7/16 patients. Real-time PCR investigation for deletion of genes BCL7A, SMAC/DIABLO, and RHOF-three tumor suppressor genes with a putative role in hematological malignancies-demonstrated that they were deleted in 9, 10, and 13 cases, respectively. The identified genomic alterations and individual genes could yield important insights into the early steps of MF pathogenesis.
Genes Chromosomes and Cancer 08/2008; 47(12):1067-75. · 3.31 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a clinical reaction pattern that is principally drug induced and is characterized by acute, extensive formation of nonfollicular sterile pustules on an erythematous and edematous substrate. Hydroxychloroquine (HHCQ), an antimalarial drug widely used to treat rheumatic and dermatologic diseases, has been described as an uncommon cause of AGEP.
This article reports 3 cases of HCQ-induced AGEP and reviews similar cases in the published literature.
The first case involved a 36-year-old woman with a 10-year history of rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren's syndrome who had begun a 25-day course of HCQ 100 mg BID due to lack of response to a corticosteroid, with a skin reaction developing 21 days into the new treatment. In the second case, a 70-year-old man with poorly controlled rheumatoid arthritis had begun a course of oral HCQ 100 mg BID 20 days before development of AGEP. The final case involved a 79-year-old woman with polymyalgia rheumatica who had been receiving HCQ 100 mg BID as a steroid-sparing agent for 22 days, with rash developing 20 days after the initiation of HCQ. Sixteen cases of HCQ-induced AGEP were identified in the literature, including some that may have been reported under a different name but were consistent with a clinical diagnosis of AGEP. The US Food and Drug Administration has mandated a change to the labeling for HCQ to include AGEP among potential adverse dermatologic reactions to the drug.
This article reports 3 cases of AGEP related to administration of HCQ. HCQ-induced AGEP is a rare but severe, extensive, and acute reaction. No specific therapy is available, and correct diagnosis generally leads to spontaneous resolution once the causative drug has been withdrawn.
Clinical Therapeutics 06/2008; 30(5):930-40. · 2.32 Impact Factor
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Concetta Santonocito,
Andrea Paradisi, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Paola Concolino,
Maria Michela Lavieri,
Sara Lanza Silveri,
Daniele De Luca,
Caterina Catricalà,
Aldo Di Carlo,
Cecilia Zuppi,
Franco Ameglio,
Ettore Capoluongo
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ABSTRACT: IGF-I-(CA) repeats have been previously analysed in few types of cancer and the results, although discordant in different studies, showed possible associations between cancer and IGF-I(CA)(19) repeats. Aim of this pilot study was to detect a possible association between some of the IGF-I(CA) repeats and the presence of malignant melanoma and its Breslow index.
Two hundred patients affected with cutaneous malignant melanoma and 100 control healthy subjects were analysed for IGF-I(CA) repeats by fragment analysis sequencing and, partially, confirmed by direct sequencing.
A significant association of IGF-I(CA)(19) repeats was observed with melanoma higher Breslow indices (P<0.001), while no association between melanoma patients and the different genotypes of IGF-I(CA) was found. The above mentioned association was confirmed after Bonferroni's correction for multiple comparisons and also by logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, sex and BMI variables. A slight, significant difference (P=0.03) was observed for serum IGF-I values in IGF-I(CA)(19)-positive or IGF-I(CA)(19)-negative subjects.
The association observed for IGF-I(CA)(19) and malignant melanoma is in keeping with similar results obtained in prostate or breast cancers, suggesting that this type of repeat may be directly or indirectly important in controlling cancer induction and its severity.
Clinica Chimica Acta 04/2008; 390(1-2):104-9. · 2.54 Impact Factor
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Ludovico Abenavoli,
Ilaria Proietti,
Luisa Vonghia,
Lorenzo Leggio,
Anna Ferrulli, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Antonio Mirijello,
Silvia Cardone,
Noemi Malandrino,
Veruska Leso,
Maurizio Rotoli,
Pier Luigi Amerio,
Giovanni Gasbarrini,
Giovanni Addolorato
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ABSTRACT: Several skin manifestations were described in patients affected by intestinal disorders. The development of skin diseases in these patients could be related to the impairment of intestinal absorption and motility, other than to immunological and hormonal changes. The growing evidence of the association between skin disorders and intestinal diseases suggests that the skin could be considered the 'mirror of the gut'.
Digestive Diseases 02/2008; 26(2):167-74. · 2.37 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Porokeratosis of Mibelli is a disorder of epidermal keratinization characterized by annular plaques with an atrophic center surrounded by a keratotic wall. We report a case of a giant verrucous porokeratosis of Mibelli mimicking psoriasis that developed in a patient with psoriasis and therefore went unrecognized for a long time. Histologically the lesion combined features of porokeratosis at the periphery and of psoriasis at its center, a picture recently described as "psoriasis encircled by porokeratosis." The possible pathogenetic relationship between psoriasis and the development of porokeratosis is also discussed.
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 11/2007; 57(4):665-8. · 3.99 Impact Factor
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Ludovico Abenavoli,
Lorenzo Leggio,
Ilaria Proietti,
Anna Ferrulli,
Luisa Vonghia,
Cristina D'Angelo,
Antonio Mirijello, Rodolfo Capizzi,
Maurizio Rotoli,
Pierluigi Amerio,
Giovanni Gasbarrini,
Giovanni Addolorato
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ABSTRACT: It is possible to observe the changes of intestinal functions, in particular absorbent, immunologic and hormonal ones, correlated to inside action of a pathogenic noxa, in the cutaneous district, thanks to clinico-dermatological manifestations. The most evident cutaneous pathologies are present in progress of inflammatory bowel diseases, however the most representative manifestations are present especially in progress of celiac disease. The importance of these associations leads to conclude that skin is the "mirror" of the small intestine, and that remembering it can be necessary for specialist and generalist in their clinical practice.
Recenti progressi in medicina 07/2007; 98(6):339-46.
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ABSTRACT: The etiopathogenesis of psoriasis is still unclear. Associations between gut and skin diseases are well known, since psoriatic patients show a high prevalence of coeliac disease. Small-bowel abnormalities can cause clinical or, more frequently, laboratory alterations that give rise to malabsorption. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of malabsorption in psoriatic patients.
Fifty-five (29 M, 26 F, mean age 51+/-8 years) psoriatic patients in the Dermatology Centre of our hospital and 65 healthy controls (36 M, 29 F, mean age 47+/-9 years) were screened for malabsorption using a D-xylose test. Psoriatic subjects who resulted positive were further investigated in order to reach a better characterization of the malabsorption using serum antigliadin, anti-endomysium and anti-transglutaminase antibodies, H2 lactulose breath test, the parasitological faecal test and colonoscopy with retrograde ileoscopy.
Altered D-xylose absorption was found in 60% (33/55) of psoriatic patients and in 3% (2/65) of controls. Of the former, 6% had coeliac disease, 21% had bacterial overgrowth, 3% had parasitic infections and 1 patient presented eosinophilic gastroenteritis.
Malabsorption was more prevalent among psoriatic patients than among controls. Coeliac disease, bacterial overgrowth, parasitic infestations and eosinophilic gastroenteritis could be possible causes of malabsorption in these patients. Further studies are needed to clarify the pathogenesis and possible causative associations between gut and skin diseases.
Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 12/2006; 41(11):1267-71. · 2.02 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Tattooing is a fairly widespread practice worldwide, despite the trauma it entails and the potentially toxic pigments it employs. Several benign and malignant lesions have been described in relation to tattoos, including verrucae, granulomas, basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. Overall, only 10 cases of malignant melanoma in tattoos are reported in the English literature. We describe a malignant melanoma that developed on a nevus on which a tattoo had been made. The possible pathogenetic relationship between malignant melanoma and tattoos is also discussed.
Melanoma Research 09/2006; 16(4):375-6. · 2.19 Impact Factor
