Self-limited variant of febrile ulceronecrotic Mucha-Habermann disease with polyclonal T-cell receptor rearrangement.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Eckhard Fiedler.
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N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) can regulate the intracellular calcium concentration of keratinocytes (KC) and seem to be important for their growth and differentiation. The objective of this study was to identify the subtype(s) of this receptor expressed by KC in vitro. The mRNA was isolated from primary cultures of KC as well as from a KC cell line (HaCaT) and expression of the NMDAR subtypes determined by using RT-PCR. At the mRNA level, we found expression of only the constant NMDAR1 as well as the subtype NMDAR2D. In contrast to the other subtypes of NMDAR, NMDAR2D is characterized by low influence of magnesium to the receptor function. This characteristic is consistent with previously published functional investigations in KC. The identification of the NMDAR2D subtype in KC may be of value for the development of new therapeutic approaches.
The 3G5-reactive ganglioside antigen (3G5 antigen) is expressed on the surface of various cell types including pericytes, pancreatic islet cells, thyroid follicular cells, and cells of the pituitary and the adrenal medulla. Expression on melanocytes has not yet been reported. We examined 148 5-microm cryosections of 12 normal skin samples and 45 skin tumors (21 melanocytic nevi, 8 malignant melanoma primaries, 4 metastases of malignant melanoma, 3 basal cell carcinomas, and 9 pigmented seborrheic keratoses) by triple fluorescence technique with the monoclonal antibody 3G5, DNA fluorochrome, and the anti-melanocytic antibody A103 (Anti-Melan-A). In normal skin, 3G5 reactivity was detected in epidermal melanocytes of 4 of 12 cases with 14.8 +/- 24.1% positive melanocytes; 20 of 21 nevi (72.2 +/- 29.1% positive nevus cells, mean +/- SD), 8 of 8 primary melanomas (83.9 +/- 12.3% positive melanoma cells), and 4 of 4 melanoma metastases (82.5 +/- 6.5% positive melanoma cells) expressed the 3G5 antigen. All tumor cells of investigated basal cell carcinoma or seborrheic keratosis were 3G5 negative. This is the first report of 3G5 antigen expression in melanocytes. The data demonstrate high expression of this ganglioside in the aggregated melanocytes of malignant or benign tumors but low or absent expression in singular melanocytes (normal epidermis, seborrheic keratoses) reflecting a different biologic state.
BACKGROUND: Pericytes (PCs) are smooth muscle-like mural cells of capillaries and venules, which can synthesize matrix components and fibroblast-activating cytokines, and are thus potential mediators of pathological changes in scleroderma. In this study, alterations in microvessels were quantitatively imaged, taking PC into account for the first time. METHODS: Skin biopsies from systemic (12) and localized (14) scleroderma forms as well as age-, sex-, and body location-matched controls were examined with respect to capillary and venular densities as well as endothelial cell (EC) and PC counts using a newly developed (in respect of PC and EC) indirect collagen IV immunostaining-based method. RESULTS: Hyperplasia of the PC that doubled the microvascular PC density was the most conspicuous characteristic. In the capillaries of the upper dermal plexus of the periphery of the sclerotic zones, median ratios of PC : EC were 0.23 (controls 0.10) or 0.18 (controls 0.11) in systemic or localized scleroderma, respectively. Furthermore, an increase in capillary density in the upper dermal plexus could be demonstrated in the marginal zones of both types of disease. CONCLUSIONS: The observed PC increase in the peripheral zones of active disease supports the hypothesis of a vascular pathogenesis of scleroderma and directs the focus to microvascular PC.