ABSTRACT
Despite the various responses of human skin to female sex hormones, cellular and subcellular targets and the mechanisms of action of estrogen and progesterone in human skin are not well understood. The detection of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) in the skin is of great importance to understand the effect of estrogen and progesterone. In primary cultures of human keratinocytes, expression of ER and PR was monitored by immunocytochemistry and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Paraffin embedded skin tissues were stained with monoclonal antibodies to human ER and PR by immunohistochemistry. Cultured human keratinocytes expressed cytoplasmic PR protein and PR mRNA transcripts. By contrast, ER was detected only at the mRNA level. Suprabasal keratinocytes from samples of pruritic urticarial papules, plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) and psoriasis were stained positively only for PR, while those from samples of erythema nodosum were negative for both ER and PR. Lesional epidermis of PUPPP showed positive PR immunoreactivity, while nonlesional epidermis did not. No other cells in the normal human skin were stained with ER and PR. The present study suggests that by expressing PR human keratinocytes act as targets for progesterone action.
Subject(s)
Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Adolescent , Cells, Cultured , Gene Expression , Immunoenzyme Techniques , Keratinocytes/metabolism , Keratinocytes/cytology , Middle Aged , Receptors, Estrogen/genetics , Receptors, Estrogen/biosynthesis , Receptors, Progesterone/genetics , Receptors, Progesterone/biosynthesis , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Sequence Analysis, DNA/methods , Skin/pathology , Skin/metabolism , Skin Diseases/metabolismABSTRACT
Capillary aneurysm is classically described as a dark papule and the outstanding clinical feature of this tumor is an appearance simulating a malignant melanoma. In the absence of histopathologic or compelling clinical evidence that the lesion is malignant, the treatment of a black melanoma-like nodule should consist of total but conservative excision. Subsequent biopsy should then indicate whether or not more radical surgery is required. We report a 14-year-old female with capillary aneurysm. She was in good health except for a black colored mottled nodule on her right thigh. Although the clinical resemblance to melanoma was observed, the microscopic view of the biopsy specimen from the center of the lesion revealed that dilated vascular channels lined by a single layer of endothelium, and some of them were surrounded by fibrous tissues in a concentric layer with thrombus. In our case, the nodule was removed with liquid nitrogen.