History of sunscreen: An updated view.

BACKGROUND: With the global sunscreen market expected to reach $24.4 billion worldwide by 2029, this demonstrates the increasing awareness of the damaging effects of sunlight. Sunscreen has been gradually evolving, and new photoprotective ingredients are continuing to be produced in response to growing scientific evidence on the effect of solar radiation on the skin. AIMS: This literature review aims to provide an updated view of the history of sunscreens. METHODS: A literature search was conducted with the keywords "Sunscreen, history, regulation, ultraviolet A, ultraviolet B, visible light" from PubMed, Medline, and online search engines. RESULTS: Humankind has always found ways to provide photoprotection since 4000BC. Only in the last century, evidence-based sunscreens have existed. The first ultraviolet B filters were produced in 1928, its evidence of efficacy and safety discovered in 1956 and development of sun protection factor in 1974. Similarly, sunscreen containing ultraviolet A filters was released in 1980 and the ultraviolet A star rating system developed in 1992. Regulatory bodies for sunscreen were introduced in the 1970s and have sought to review the safety and efficacy of ingredients. With the rising number of researches on the effects of visible light on hyperpigmentation over the past decade, the need for photoprotection beyond ultraviolet has been increasing. CONCLUSION: To provide consumers with evidence-based sunscreen, challenges remain in acquiring further evidence, regulation, and rating systems.

A case report on the use of topical cysteamine 5% cream in the management of refractory postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) resistant to triple combination cream (hydroquinone, topical corticosteroids, and retinoids).

BACKGROUND: Postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) occurs as a result of different inflammatory dermatoses and exogenous factors in individuals with darker skin types. With current skin lightening treatments, there are concerns about irritation leading to worsening of their underlying inflammatory skin condition or worsening of PIH. CASE: A 20-year-old woman with Fitzpatrick skin type (FST) V presented with facial hyperpigmented patches since childhood following an intermittent erythematous, pruritic facial rash. Skin biopsy confirmed PIH secondary to possible burnt-out morphea. Treatment with topical adapalene 0.1% gel and triple combination cream (containing hydroquinone, topical corticosteroids, and retinoids) proved unsuccessful. Treatment with cysteamine 5% cream over 4 months resulted in significant improvement with a reduction in the melanin index. DISCUSSION: The current recommendation for first-line treatment in PIH is hydroquinone or triple combination cream containing hydroquinone, which can be associated with significant short- and long-term side effects. Cysteamine 5% cream is one of the latest cosmetic skin lightening products. It is hypothesized that cysteamine reduces melanin production by inhibiting key melanogenic enzymes required in melanogenesis. Its efficacy and tolerability have been demonstrated in two randomized controlled trials against placebo in patients with melasma. This report demonstrates a successful use of cysteamine 5% cream in a patient with chronic severe PIH.

The functional and structural characterization of a novel oncogene GIG47 involved in the breast tumorigenesis.

BACKGROUND: A candidate oncogene GIG47, previously known as a neudesin with a neurotrophic activity, was identified by applying the differential expression analysis method. METHODS: As a first step to understand the molecular role of GIG47, we analyzed the expression profile of GIG47 in multiple human cancers including the breast cancer and characterized its function related to human carcinogenesis. Based on this oncogenic role of GIG47, we then embarked on determining the high-resolution structure of GIG47. We have applied multidimensional heteronuclear NMR methods to GIG47. RESULTS: GIG47 was over-expressed in primary breast tumors as well as other human tumors including carcinomas of the uterine cervix, malignant lymphoma, colon, lung, skin, and leukemia. To establish its role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer in humans, we generated stable transfectants of MCF7 cells. The ectopic expression of GIG47 in MCF7 cells promoted the invasiveness in the presence of 50% serum. In addition, it also resulted in the increased tumorigenicity in in vivo tumor formation assay. The tumorigenesis mechanism involving GIG47 might be mediated by the activation of MAPK and PI3K pathways. These results indicate that GIG47 plays a role in the breast tumorigenesis, thus representing a novel target for the treatment of breast cancer. To facilitate the development of GIG47-targeted therapeutics, we determined the structural configuration of GIG47. The high-resolution structure of GIG47 was obtained by combination of NMR and homology modeling. The overall structure of GIG47 has four α-helices and 6 ß-strands, arranged in a ß1-α1-ß2-ß3-α2-ß4-α3-α4-ß5-ß6 topology. There is a potential heme/steroid binding pocket formed between two helices α2 and α3. CONCLUSION: The determined three-dimensional structure of GIG47 may facilitate the development of potential anti-cancer agents.

Combined analysis of AFP and HCCR-1 as an useful serological marker for small hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective cohort study.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent malignant tumors in the world. The only serological marker widely used for the diagnosis of HCC is alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Despite that AFP is widely used for the diagnosis of HCC, it has a limit as a serological marker due to its low sensitivity and specificity. The human cervical cancer proto-oncogene 1 (HCCR-1) was previously reported as a new biomarker for HCC. To further evaluate the HCCR-1 as a biomarker for HCC, we conducted the prospective cohort study. We evaluated the significance of simultaneous measurement of 2 tumor markers in the diagnosis of HCC in China, Japan and Korea. Two markers for HCC, AFP and HCCR-1, were measured in the sera obtained from 1,338 patients at the time of initial diagnosis of HCC. Of the 1338 HCC patients, 616 (46%) and 686 (51.3%) were sero-positive for AFP and HCCR-1, respectively. The positive rate for HCC was increased up to 74.1% in combined use of AFP and HCCR-1. Many cases (54%) for AFP-negative HCC were positive for HCCR-1 and vice versa. More importantly, the diagnostic rate for small HCC (< 2 cm) was significantly improved in the combined analysis of AFP and HCCR-1 to 56.9% although it was only 40.1% and 23.4% in the single analysis of HCCR-1 and AFP, respectively. Our result suggests that the HCCR-1 could be an useful biomarker for HCC while the diagnostic rate could be significantly improved in the combined use of HCCR-1 and AFP.

Clinical utility of alpha fetoprotein and HCCR-1, alone or in combination, in patients with chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used tumor marker in detecting patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it has been indicated that HCCR-1 (human cervical cancer oncogene 1) might be supplementary to AFP in the detection. We conducted a prospective study in 120 normal and 524 liver disease patients to evaluate the significance of simultaneous measurement of 2 tumor markers (AFP and HCCR-1) in the diagnosis of HCC through the cohort study in Korea and China. We also performed immunohistochemical studies using 25 normal subjects (N), 32 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 116 HCC tissues. The sensitivities of AFP (20 ng/mL) and HCCR-1 (10 ng/mL) in HCC were 55.8% (164/294) and 44.2% (130/294), respectively. When AFP was combined with HCCR-1, sensitivities increased to 4.2% (N), 12.7% (chronic hepatitis; CH), 50.0% (LC), and 77.2% (HCC), respectively. Although there was no significant difference in the diagnostic rate for HCC between AFP and HCCR-1, many cases for AFP-negative HCC were positive for HCCR-1 and vice versa. Moreover, the combined use of AFP and HCCR-1 improved the diagnostic rate to 70.8% in small HCC (< 2 cm) and 81.6% in large HCC (⩾ 2 cm), respectively. AFP and HCCR-1 are independent markers. Our result suggests that the HCCR-1 could be an useful biomarker for HCC while the diagnostic rate could be significantly improved in the combined use of HCCR-1 and AFP.

The prognostic potential of keratin 18 in breast cancer associated with tumor dedifferentiation, and the loss of estrogen and progesterone receptors.

The differential expression profiling with breast normal and tumor tissues, and a breast cancer cell line led to identification of cytokeratin 18 (KT18) gene over-expressed in breast cancer. The expression pattern of KT18 in breast cancer was compared to those of conventional tumor markers such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and minichromosome maintenance protein 3 (MCM3). Their expression patterns in breast cancer were almost identical, suggesting that KT18 might be useful for detection of proliferating fractions in the breast cancer. The immunohistochemical analyses on the tissue microarray consisting of invasive ductal carcinomas revealed that the up-regulation of KT18 is observed in a majority of breast carcinomas whereas its down-regulation also occurs at a less frequency. Of particular interest, KT18 down-regulation was associated with histologically poorly differentiated carcinomas than well differentiated carcinomas. In addition, it was also significantly associated with the loss of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR), the prognostic markers of the breast cancer (P < 0.05), while not with HER2, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. This result suggests that KT18 correlated with ER and PR may be utilized for the prognosis of breast cancer. Furthermore, the forced down-regulation of KT18 enhanced the growth of tumor xenografts in vivo and invasiveness in vitro. Therefore, our findings suggest that loss of KT18 expression might be a good indicator of the poor prognosis of the breast cancer and it may play an active role in the breast tumorigenesis.

Transdifferentiation-inducing HCCR-1 oncogene.

BACKGROUND: Cell transdifferentiation is characterized by loss of some phenotypes along with acquisition of new phenotypes in differentiated cells. The differentiated state of a given cell is not irreversible. It depends on the up- and downregulation exerted by specific molecules. RESULTS: We report here that HCCR-1, previously shown to play an oncogenic role in human cancers, induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) in human and mouse, respectively. The stem cell factor receptor CD117/c-Kit was induced in this transdifferentiated (EMT) sarcoma tissues. This MET occurring in HCCR-1 transfected cells is reminiscent of the transdifferentiation process during nephrogenesis. Indeed, expression of HCCR-1 was observed during the embryonic development of the kidney. This suggests that HCCR-1 might be involved in the transdifferentiation process of cancer stem cell. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, we propose that HCCR-1 may be a regulatory factor that stimulates morphogenesis of epithelia or mesenchyme during neoplastic transformation.

An emission pattern of a thermophilic bacteria attached to or imbedded in porous supports.

There are many problems with thermophilic bacteria contamination of milk in the dairy industry. This is, in part, a result of fouling by milk components on stainless steel surfaces, which provide good harboring facilities for these bacteria to attach, imbed and grow. The interactions between milk fouling and bacteria deposited in or on the fouling deposit therefore become important issues. There have been a number of previous studies on the biofilm development in dairy processing plants. Here, a different approach to investigate the bacteria emission from a porous layer has been taken. In this approach, various process fluids were flushed over the top of a model milk foulant layer that contains high percentages of milk proteins, fat and some bacteria cells, in order to investigate the behavior of the 'resident' microorganisms and how they are 'released' into the flushing liquids. Definitive results were obtained, which have created sufficient interest for a different approach taken later, where fabric layers were used as the support for the bacteria cells to explore the 'generic' behavior of the porous layer-bacteria system. This study has shown that Bacillus stearothermophilus could multiply on or within a porous layer and 'migrate' from the layer into the fluid during processing. This "migration" is somewhat peculiar in terms of its time-responses but these are reproducible in all the tests performed. The phenomena observed may have an impact on future microbial safety practice in food factories.