Effects of topical testosterone propionate on the positive nickel patch test.

In a group of nickel sensitized women, we investigated the effects of topical application of testosterone propionate on the epidermic density of CD1 + dendritic cells and on the response to patch tests performed with scaled nickel concentrations. In a significant number of examined subjects, treatment with testosterone propionate induced an increase of the minimum eliciting dose of nickel and an evident reduction of CD1 + dendritic cell epidermic density. In those subjects in which the minimum eliciting dose resulted unmodified, the epidermic density of CD1 + dendritic cells also did not undergo significant variations following treatment with testosterone propionate. This parallelism between the behaviour of the responses to patch tests and the epidermic density of CD1 + dendritic cells induces us to think it possible that testosterone propionate is able to increase the tolerance to contact with allergen by interfering with the activity of Langerhans cells. The possible mechanisms of testosterone action on Langerhans cells remain to be elucidated.

[Subcutaneous adiponecrosis in newborn infants]. / Adiponecrosi sottocutanea del neonato.

A case of subcutaneous fat necrosis of the newborn gave us the opportunity of re-examining this disease in the light of recent reports. Clinical, histological and laboratorial data do not show any specific pattern, although, seen as whole, they seem to form a picture distinguishable from sclerema neonatorum.

[Sexual hormones and acne in adolescent women]. / Ormoni sessuali ed acne adolescenziale nella donna.

In a group of thirtyseven women who had been suffering from acne during adolescence and spontaneously healed within the 21st year of age, the plasma levels of nine sex hormones were evaluated during three different phases of the disease, i.e. the florid phase, the resolutive phase and the one following complete healing. During the florid phase the patients showed significantly lower oestradiol and progesterone levels compared to control subjects: such differences reduced during the following phase and disappeared almost completely after healing. Significant differences in prolactin, total testosterone, free testosterone, adrostenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, FSH LH and LH plasma levels were not observed between patients and controls. The ratios obtained dividing the values of total testosterone and androstenedione by the ones of progesterone and oestradiol showed that, in acne patients, the hormonal balances deviated significantly in favour of androgens, exclusively during the florid phase of the disease. We have therefore hypothesized that, in the woman, adolescent self healing acne is almost never influenced by an increase of circulating androgens, but it is often related to a reduction in oestradiol and/or progesterone production that is responsible for a transitory condition of relative hyperandrogenism.

[Acanthosis nigricans in pregnancy]. / Acanthosis nigricans in gravidanza.

A case of Acanthosis nigricans developed in a pregnant 16 year old woman is reported. Laboratory studies disclosed an abnormal glucose tolerance and elevated levels of insulinemia with an insulin-resistant state. Two months after partum, the metabolic parameters became normal and parallel the complete resolution of acanthosis nigricans was observed. The possible pathogenetic role of pregnancy in the development of acanthosis nigricans is discussed.

[Condylomata acuminata of the external genitalia and dysplasia of the uterine cervix]. / Condilomi acuminati dei genitali esterni e displasie della cervice uterina.

Condylomata acuminata of the external genitalia and dysplasias of the uterine cervix The prevalence of cervical abnormalities indicative of papillomavirus infection and/or dysplasia was evaluated in a group of women previously treated for vulvar condylomata acuminata. The results obtained seem to demonstrate that the women affected by vulvar condylomata acuminata are particularly exposed to the risk of acquiring slight or moderate grade dysplasias. However, the lack of severe dysplasias in our patients tends to suggest that cervical dysplasias associated to vulvar condylomata acuminata are characterized by a poor inclination towards neoplastic evolution.

New phenotypic aspects in a family with Lynch syndrome II.

Increasing attention has been given to hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). This report provides medical genetic/pathologic findings on an HNPCC kindred from southern Italy that shows criteria consistent with Lynch syndrome II. An international collaborative effort led to extension of this kindred with disclosure of a potentially new spectrum of phenotypic findings: an excess of gastric carcinoma; complete intestinal metaplasia and chronic atrophic gastritis restricted to the antrum; an apparent excess of colonic mucosal macrophagia, which by special stain appeared to be positive for mucin, with a constant content of both sialo and sulfomucin, a lack of iron, and an inconstant positivity for lysozyme obtained by immunoperoxidase technique; and findings of crypt atrophy of the colonic mucosa. During the relatively short period of investigation of this family, an intensive educational and surveillance program has been mounted in the interest of improving cancer control through direct application of knowledge of natural history and the risk factor evidence through pedigree assessment.

Immune response in thermally injured guinea-pigs treated with methisoprinol.

A series of experiments has been performed in order to evaluate the effects of methisoprinol on immune response following thermal injury. Methisoprinol treatment induced a sharp stimulation of the cell-mediated immune response in burned animals. This finding demonstrates that methisoprinol may be useful in burns to prevent infections related to immune depression.

Pemphigus antibodies fixation and keratinocyte differentiation in organ cultures. Effects of some agents influencing the intracellular content of cyclic AMP.

The effect of some agents, influencing the cyclic adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate (cAMP) content of human cells, on the ability of the keratinocytes of binding pemphigus antibodies was studied by using tissue cultures of rabbit esophagus. As demonstrated by immunofluorescence (IF) for IgG, the bound antibodies appeared markedly decreased on esophagus explants grown under standard conditions, that is without test agents, when compared to ones fixed on fresh esophagus. But the IF reaction was remarkably more intense when methylxanthines or epinephrine were added to the growth medium of the cultures. Following the addition of these agents to the cultures some histologic modifications appeared in the explants, indicating that the keratinization process had probably been stimulated. This temporal relationship of immunofluorescence and histologic findings seems to suggest the hypothesis that keratinocyte differentiation, regulation of cAMP intracellular content, and pemphigus antibodies fixation are related processes.

DNA-repair after UV-irradiation in skin fibroblasts from patients with actinic keratosis.

Autoradiographic counting technique was utilized to measure the ultraviolet-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis of skin fibroblasts from 12 patients with chronic actinic keratosis and from 12 healthy donors of about the same age. In order to reveal a possible regional difference of DNA repair between the parts of the body ordinarily exposed and those parts unexposed to sunlight, two cell strains were used for each examined subject; one developed from the forehead skin and the other from the abdominal or axillary skin. Unscheduled DNA synthesis appeared depressed in actinic keratosis patients, as compared with controls. In all examined subjects however cell strains from exposed skin showed a DNA repair more active than cell strains from unexposed skin. These findings show that skin cancer may be promoted in actinic keratosis patients by a defect of DNA repair. The exalted DNA repair of chronically sun exposed skin is probably the consequence of a defensive process caused by enzymatic induction.

Complement in pemphigus vulgaris and other bullous dermatoses.

The behavior of the complement and of its components C4 and C3 has been studied in serum and in blister fluid both in patients with pemphigus vulgaris and other bullous dermatoses and in healthy subjects with experimentally induced blisters. The results are suggestive of local activation of the complement, in the blister fluid of patients with pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus erythematosus and bullous pemphigoid according to the classical enzymatic sequence.