The hand eczema proteome: Imbalance of epidermal barrier proteins.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hand eczema is a frequent skin disease with a high socio-economic impact. While some light has been shed on genetic factors predisposing for the disease, little is known on its actual pathogenesis. OBJECTIVES: We therefore set out to systematically and comprehensively analyze the differential protein expression in chronic hand eczema using modern mass spectrometry. METHODS: We performed LC-MS/MS analyses and label-free quantification to analyze the proteomic profile of palmar skin from 12 individuals, 6 hand eczema patients and 6 healthy volunteers. Immunohistochemistry of palmar skin from 7 different hand eczema patients and 7 different healthy volunteers was performed in a second step. RESULTS: With this method we were able to identify 185 candidate proteins whose abundance was significantly different in the hand eczema samples. Among them we found several barrier proteins: filaggrin, filaggrin2 and hornerin all were down-regulated in the hand eczema samples as were the desquamation-related enzymes kallikrein-related peptidase 5 and 7 as well as cystatin E/M. The antimicrobial peptides S100A7 and S100A8/A9 as well as the small proline-rich protein 2B and S100A11 were up-regulated in diseased skin. Immunohistochemistry confirmed these findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our results corroborate the assumption that skin barrier dysfunction plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of chronic hand eczema

Electrochemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma:a prospective cohort study by InspECT

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an effective local treatment for cutaneous metastasis. Treatment involves the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs followed by delivery of electrical pulses to the tumour. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ECT in cutaneous metastases of melanoma and to identify factors which affect (beneficially or adversely) the outcome