Psoriasin (S100A7) expression is altered during skin tumorigenesis

BACKGROUND: Psoriasin (S100A7) expression has previously been associated with psoriasiform hyperplasia as well as with tumor progression in breast cancer. Its expression profile for different stages of skin lesions is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between psoriasin (S100A7) and tumor progression in skin. METHODS: Psoriasin was assessed by immunohistochemistry and levels of expression determined by semi-quantitative scoring in skin biopsies from 50 patients. The cohort included normal skin, actinic keratosis, squamous carcinoma in-situ, invasive squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma. RESULTS: In normal skin, psoriasin was rarely detected in epidermis but was expressed in underlying adnexae. In abnormal epidermis psoriasin was frequently expressed in abnormal keratinocytes in actinic keratosis, in-situ and invasive squamous cell carcinoma, but was rarely observed in the basal epidermal layer or in superficial or invasive basal cell carcinoma. The highest levels of expression were seen within squamous carcinoma in-situ. Significantly reduced levels of expression were observed in both unmatched (p = 0.0001) and matched (p < 0.004) invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Psoriasin expression within abnormal squamous lesions correlated with mitotic count (r = 0.54, p = 0.0036), however no significant relation was found with the intensity of dermal inflammatory cell infiltrates assessed within each pathology. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that altered psoriasin expression occurs in abnormal epidermis and that downregulation may be related to the onset of invasion in squamous cell carcinoma in skin

Nuclear S100A7 Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Head and Neck Cancer

Tissue proteomic analysis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and normal oral mucosa using iTRAQ (isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation) labeling and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, led to the identification of a panel of biomarkers including S100A7. In the multi-step process of head and neck tumorigenesis, the presence of dysplastic areas in the epithelium is proposed to be associated with a likely progression to cancer; however there are no established biomarkers to predict their potential of malignant transformation. This study aimed to determine the clinical significance of S100A7 overexpression in HNSCC.Immunohistochemical analysis of S100A7 expression in HNSCC (100 cases), oral lesions (166 cases) and 100 histologically normal tissues was carried out and correlated with clinicopathological parameters and disease prognosis over 7 years for HNSCC patients. Overexpression of S100A7 protein was significant in oral lesions (squamous cell hyperplasia/dysplasia) and sustained in HNSCC in comparison with oral normal mucosa (p(trend)<0.001). Significant increase in nuclear S100A7 was observed in HNSCC as compared to dysplastic lesions (p = 0.005) and associated with well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.031). Notably, nuclear accumulation of S100A7 also emerged as an independent predictor of reduced disease free survival (p = 0.006, Hazard ratio (HR = 7.6), 95% CI = 1.3-5.1) in multivariate analysis underscoring its relevance as a poor prognosticator of HNSCC patients.Our study demonstrated nuclear accumulation of S100A7 may serve as predictor of poor prognosis in HNSCC patients. Further, increased nuclear accumulation of S100A7 in HNSCC as compared to dysplastic lesions warrants a large-scale longitudinal study of patients with dysplasia to evaluate its potential as a determinant of increased risk of transformation of oral premalignant lesions

Study of CuAlBe Shape Memory Alloy by X-Ray Diffraction

A complete study of Ms-30°C polycrystalline CuAlBe shape memory alloy is made by X Ray diffraction using a texture goniometer equipped with a curved position sensitive detector. Austenite and martensite unit cells parameters are measured. Measured indexes and orientation of the habit plane are compared to those expected by the lattice parameters. Austenite after extrusion shows a strong fiber texture, volumic fraction of austenite and martensite are rneasured according to the deformation. Internal deformations of three grains of a Ms-100°C CuAlBe sample are followed during their macroscopic deformation

Er þörf forgangsröðunar í heilbrigðismálum? [ritstjórnargrein]

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenForgangsröðun í heilbrigðiskerfinu hefur verið nokkuð vinsælt umræðuefni undanfarið. Ég hef verið meðal þeirra sem hef gagnrýnt þessa umræðu fyrir að vera ómarkvissa, takmarkaða og oft á tíðum ruglandi (1). Færa má rök að því að heppilegt sé að skoða forgangsröðun í heilbrigðiskerfinu eins og hún eigi sér stað á nokkrum þrepum. Ástæðan er sú að umfjöllunarefni, rök, vandamál, aðferðir og lausnir eru ekki endilega þau sömu á öllum þessum þrepum. Forgangsröðun í heilbrigðiskerfinu hefur venjulega verið skipt í þrjú stig eða þrep sem eru; a) forgangsröðun í meðferð tiltekinna einstaklinga, b) forgangsröðun innan stofnana eða landsvæða og c) forgangsröðun fyrir þjóðina alla