BACKGROUND: c-Jun along with JunB, JunD, and the Fos group proteins comprise the core members of the activator protein 1 (AP1) family of transcription factors. Recently, many studies have demonstrated the key roles of AP1 in regulating a wide spectrum of biological processes, including tumorigenesis. We therefore hypothesized that c-Jun and JunB influence the differentiation and malignant change of various skin tumors. OBJECTIVE: We measured the expression levels of c-Jun and JunB in different skin tumors. METHODS: The expressions of c-Jun and JunB were examined by performing the immunohistochemical staining of 55 specimens of skin tumors, including 13 cases of seborrheic keratosis, 4 cases of keratoacanthoma, 9 cases of actinic keratosis, 4 cases of Bowen's disease, 4 cases of basal cell carcinoma, 16 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, and 5 cases of malignant melanoma. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis of the skin tumor tissue samples revealed a significantly higher expression of c-Jun in malignant skin tumors (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma) than in benign (seborrheic keratosis, keratoacanthoma) or premalignant skin tumors (actinic keratosis, Bowen's disease). The expression of JunB, however, was significantly lower in malignant skin tumors than in benign skin tumors. CONCLUSION: These findings showed that c-Jun has a positive association with skin malignancies, while JunB has a negative association with skin malignancies. The role of AP1 as key regulators of cell proliferation and epidermal tumor progression is suggested.
Biological Processes ; Bowen's Disease ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Keratoacanthoma ; Keratosis ; Keratosis, Actinic ; Keratosis, Seborrheic ; Melanoma ; Skin* ; Transcription Factor AP-1 ; Transcription Factors

Metastasis to the skin from internal malignant neoplasms is an uncommon event. Although carcinoma of the ovary is the second most common malignancy in women, cutaneous involvement originating from ovarian cancer is particularly unusual. A 30-year-old woman had been treated with chemotherapy for ovarian cancer 4 years previously. She showed an erythematous indurated subcutaneous nodule on her left shoulder and scalp. Histopathologic findings showed multiple cribriform pattern cellular masses and some cords or tubular structures floating on a mucinous pool, which were similar to primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. We report this case of cutaneous metastasis from ovarian cancer.
Female ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovarian Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Malignant fibrous/fibrohistiocytic tumors are uncommon soft tissue tumors which gives dermatologists special attention on differential diagnosis. However, there has not yet been a multicenter study on these tumors in Korea. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and clinical features of malignant fibrous/ fiborhistiocytic tumors. METHODS: A total of 62 patients from 11 training hospitals who had been confirmed with malignant fibrous/ fibrohistiocytic tumor were studied. A retrospective analysis of hospital records served as the data source for this study. RESULTS: Among patients with malignant fibrous/fibrohistiocytic tumors, the most common tumor type was dermatofibrosarcoma protuberance followed by malignant fibrohistiocytic. The male to female ratio among subjects was 1.38 to 1 and the mean age was 44 years old. Of the common complaints recorded, asymptomatic mass was the most frequent. The mean size of the subjects' tumors was 2.9 cm in the long axis and 2.3 cm in the short axis with a mean tumor thickness of 2.1 mm. The most common site for tumors was the back followed by the thigh. The recurrence rate after primary treatment was 14.5% and metastasis developed in 5 of 62 patients. CONCLUSION: This study is expected to be helpful for understanding the clinical and pathological characteristics of malignant fibrous/fibrohistiocytic tumors.
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Dermatofibrosarcoma ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Thigh

Glyphosate surfactant herbicide (N-Phosphonomethyl glycine) is a nonselective herbicide used and studied worldwide because it is less toxic than paraquat is. Alachlor, an acetanilide agrichemical, is a herbicide that is selectively absorbed in the young buds of gramineae weeds. The selective functional mechanism of alachlor is not clear, but it is known to disturb the physio-chemical response. Human abuse can lead to intoxication and injury of the intestinal mucosa, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension, dyspnea, metabolic acidosis, respiratory distress, and death. The authors diagnosed a rare case of erythema multiforme without systemic symptoms.
Abdominal Pain ; Acetamides ; Acetanilides ; Acidosis ; Diarrhea ; Dyspnea ; Erythema ; Erythema Multiforme ; Glycine ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Intestinal Mucosa ; Paraquat ; Poaceae ; Vomiting

Dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria is a rare pigmentary disorder that's characterized by the presence of both small and irregular sized hyperpigmented and hypopigmented macules in a generalized distribution. The pattern of inheritance is thought to be autosomal dominant, but some sporadic and autosomal recessive inheritance cases have also been reported. We report here on a case of a-15-year old female patient with dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria, which is compatible with autosomal dominant inheritance. The patient presented with numerous small and irregularly sized hyper-and hypopigmented macules on her face, trunk and both the arms and legs, but not on the palms and soles. By analysis of her familial pedigree, we found an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. The biopsy specimen taken from the hyperpigmented macules showed increased melanin granules and pigmentation in the basal cell layer of the epidermis. Various therapeutic trials have been introduced to treat these lesions, but there have been few reports of simple effective treatments for the hyper-and hypopigmented lesions. So, we tried treating the hyperpigmented macules with a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and we obtained a successful result.
Arm ; Biopsy ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Leg ; Melanins ; Pedigree ; Pigmentation ; Pigmentation Disorders ; Skin Diseases, Genetic ; Wills

BACKGROUND: As the proportion of old-aged people is currently increasing, the incidence of herpes zoster is also increasing. Yet there has not been any report on the epidemiology of herpes zoster in the Province of Chungcheongnam-do. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of herpes zoster in the Province of Chungcheongnam-do. METHODS: The authors retrospectively evaluated 915 cases of herpes zoster with regard to the annual, monthly and seasonal incidences, the age and gender ratios, the associated conditions, the anatomical distribution and the complications at the Department of Dermatology in Soonchunhyang University hospital in Cheonan during 3 years from 2004 to 2006. RESULTS: The results were as follows: The annual rate of new outpatients at our dermatology clinic ranged from 1.6% to 1.9% (mean: 1.7%), and the ratio of males to females was 0.74:1. The peak incidence on monthly analysis was in August and the lowest incidence on the monthly and seasonal analysis were in February and winter for the herpes zoster inpatients. Herpes zoster was seen most frequently in the over 70 year-old group (38.0%). The most frequent involved dermatome of the herpes zoster inpatients was the thoracic dermatome (35.4%) and others included the trigeminal (26.9%), lumbar (13.8%), cervical (11.5%) and sacral (2.7%) areas. 26 (8.8%) patients had disease involving 2 different dermatomes. Of the 297 herpes zoster inpatients, associated conditions were observed for 167 patients (56.2%); hypertension (32.1%), diabetes (17.5%), malignancy (10.4%), asthma (7.5%) and so on. Complications were observed for 121 (40.7%) inpatients and the most common complication was postherpetic neuralgia (30.0%), followed by secondary bacterial infection (9.8%), ophthalmologic complications (7.7%), neurogenic bladder (1.4%) and so on. CONCLUSION: The results of our study showed higher proportions of females and old-age people with herpes zoster and a higher proportion of old-age people with postherpetic neuralgia.
Asthma ; Bacterial Infections ; Dermatology ; Female ; Herpes Zoster ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Male ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Outpatients ; Retrospective Studies ; Seasons ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic

Malignant eccrine poroma is a rare skin appendageal tumor arising from the intraepidermal ductal portion of the eccrine sweat gland. It may develop either spontaneously or from a long-standing eccrine poroma. It usually affects the aged and is located most commonly on lower extremities. We report a case of malignant eccrine poroma occurring on the suprapubic area of a 75-year-old Korean man. He underwent wide excision and flap coverage.
Aged ; Eccrine Porocarcinoma ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Poroma ; Skin ; Sweat Glands

BACKGROUND: The multiple allergosorbent test chemiluminescent assay (MAST-CLA) system is a simple method for measuring total and allergen-specific IgE antibodies in the serum of patients with atopic dermatitis. Total IgE, however, is much frequently higher, even if no allergen-specific IgE antibodies can be detected in serum. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate total IgE class, the allergen frequencies and their correlations in MAST-CLA in child and adult atopic dermatitis patients respectively. METHODS: A total of fifty two adult patients and ninety child patients with atopic dermatitis were evaluated by MAST-CLA between march 2002 and march 2005 at Soonchunhyang hospital. Positive rates of specific IgE and the total serum IgE level of the MAST-CLA allergy system were compared between child and adult patients. RESULTS: Among the subjects, 84.5% (80.0% for child patients and 92.3% for adult patients) of patients showed an elevated serum total IgE (more than class level 2) and 54.9% (45.6% for child patients, 71.2% for adult patients) revealed at least more than one allergen-specific IgE by MAST-CLA. The average 3.76 (3.39 for child patients, 4.16 for adult patients) different allergens was simultaneously detected in a single positive serum. Commonly-positive allergen rates, in descending order, were D. farinae 44.4%, D. pteronyssynos 38.7% and house dust 26.8%. Furthermore, the higher total serum IgE level in adult patients, the more probability of allergen-specific IgE positive results being disclosed (p<0.05). The number of allergen-specific IgE positive results was increased in a higher serum total IgE level (p<0.05). But total IgE positive rates which had allergen-specific antibody negative patients was 37.5% (45.8% for child patients, 25.0% for adult patients). Good correlation was obtained between total IgE levels and number of positive allergen-specific IgE in MAST-CLA, with 0.551 correlation coefficiency (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that the MAST-CLA allergy system is a useful screening test to detect allergen- specific IgE and to evaluate patients with atopic dermatitis. But other allergen screening tests should be used for detecting allergens, when MAST-CLA total IgE class is increased over class 2 with no detectable specific IgE.
Adult* ; Allergens ; Antibodies ; Child* ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Dust ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Immunoglobulin E* ; Luminescent Measurements ; Mass Screening

BACKGROUND: The anatomical relation between a malignant tumor and its vascular and lymphatic bed is an important influencing metastasis. Hox D3 is required for these expressions of integrin alpha v beta3 and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), which contribute to endothelial cell adhesion, invasion, and migration during angiogenesis. Recent studies in different tumor types have shown that vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C), which displays a high specificity for lymphatic endothelium, is involved in tumor-induced lymphagiogenesis and lymphatic metastatic spread. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to measure the expression of HOX D3 and VEGF-C in different skin cancers. METHODS: The expression of HOX D3 and VEGF-C was examined by immunohistochemical staining of 40 skin cancer tissue samples, including 8 keratoacanthomas, 8 extramammary paget's disease, 8 basal cell carcinomas, 8 squamous cell carcinomas and 8 malignant melanomas. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis of 40 skin cancer tissue samples revealed a high expression of HOX D3 and VEGF-C in the more aggressive and invasive skin tumors, including squamous cell carcinomas and malignant melanomas. On the other hand, low expression was seen in the less-invasive skin tumors, including keratoacanthomas, extramammary paget's disease and basal cell carcinomas. Also the degree of expression of HOX D3 and VEGF-C showed a statistically-significant correlation with each skin tumor (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence that the upregulation of HOX D3 and VEGF-C might be involved in the promotion of angiogenesis and lymphagiogenesis in skin tumors and play an important role in metastasis.
Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium, Lymphatic ; Hand ; Integrin alphaV ; Keratoacanthoma ; Lymphangiogenesis ; Melanoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Paget Disease, Extramammary ; Plasminogen Activators ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin Neoplasms ; Skin* ; Up-Regulation ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C*

Hobnail hemangioma is a benign vascular tumor that typically presents as a small, single lesion on the skin of the trunk or limb. It occurs mainly in young or middle-aged adults (mean age: 30 years) but rarely in childhood. Histologically, hobnail hemangioma is characterized by a biphasic growth pattern, with dilated vascular spaces lined by hobnail endothelial cells in the superficial dermis, and collagen dissection narrow vascular channels in the deeper dermal parts, as well as inflammatory aggregates, fibrosis, and hemosiderin deposits. We report a case of hobnail hemangioma in a 10-year-old girl who had a violaceous papule surrounded by an ecchymotic halo on the left thigh. She underwent treatment with surgical excision with primary closure. To the best of our knowledge, our case is the first reported case of childhood hobnail hemangioma in Korean dermatological literatures.
Adult ; Child ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Endothelial Cells ; Extremities ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Hemangioma* ; Hemosiderin ; Humans ; Skin ; Thigh