BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of bromhidrosis is a clinical one, but the definition of "normal" odor is a poorly defined term. In the Asian population, the presence of even a faint odor is considered diagnostic. For the more exact evaluation, it is vital to study more findings associated with bromhidrosis. Recently, several studies have suggested possibility that the activity of sebaceous gland may be increased in patients with bromhidrosis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the differences of the seborrheic phenotypes and the measured serum level of facial skin surface between patients with bromhidrosis and the normal population. METHODS: Twenty patients who were diagnosed with bromhidrosis by nose smell test and age-matched twenty from the normal population were evaluated with regard to the presence of seborrheic skin phenotypes suggested by Ely. We also measured sebum level of facial skin by Sebumeter(R). RESULTS: The presence of some seborrheic skin phenotypes such as telangiectasia and square palm were increased significantly in the patients. In addition, objectively measured sebum of facial skin surface was relatively increased in the patients. CONCLUSION: We concluded that there is an association between apocrine bromhidrosis and seborrheic skin phenotype.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Nose ; Odors ; Phenotype* ; Sebaceous Glands ; Sebum ; Skin* ; Smell ; Telangiectasis

PURPOSE: Angiostatin, a 38 kDa internal fragment of plasminogen, is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. It blocks neovascularization and growth of primary and metastatic tumors in mice. To produce recombinant angiostatin protem comprising kringle 1-4 of plasminogen, we cloned the angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA and expressed it in E. coli. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We cloned angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Cloned cDNA was ligated to pET22b (+) expression vector, transformed into E. coli stram BL21 (DE3) and expressed by IPTG induction. Recombinant human angiostatin protein was purified from the inclusion bodies of lysated bacterial pellet with 8 M urea solubilization, refolding, single step Lysine-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography and 0.2 M E-aminocarproic acid elution. The anti-angiogenic activity of purified recombinant angiostatin was assayed with endothelial cell proliferation assay and chorioallantoic membrane assay (CAM). RESULTS: The identification of cloned angiostatin cDNA was confirmed by Southern hybridization and Pst I restriction enzyme digestion pattern. Angiostatin cDNA was expressed in E. coli, refolded in vitro and purified by Lysine Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. The molecular weight of purified recombinant angiostatin was about 55 kDa on the SDS-PAGE. It inhibited the proliferation of bovine capillary endothelial (BCE) cells in vitro with a half-maximal inhibition concentration (ED50) of approximately 500 ng/mL. It also suppressed neovasculrization on the CAM assay. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that recombinant human angiostatin has similar function and biological activity compared with human angiostatin which is purified from porcine elastase digested human plasminogen fragment.
Angiostatins* ; Animals ; Capillaries ; Chorioallantoic Membrane ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Digestion ; DNA, Complementary* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Endothelial Cells ; Humans* ; Inclusion Bodies ; Isopropyl Thiogalactoside ; Kringles ; Liver* ; Lysine ; Mice ; Molecular Weight ; Pancreatic Elastase ; Plasminogen ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger* ; Sepharose ; Urea