Summary
Background
Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) belongs to the ovalbumin–serpin family and is a known tumour marker. Expression of SCCA is upregulated in the serum and skin of patients with ...psoriasis.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to determine SCCA2 levels in association with disease severity and treatment efficacy in patients with psoriasis.
Materials and methods
Patients with psoriasis (n = 123) and healthy controls (n = 25) were enrolled in this prospective cross‐sectional study. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis was performed to determine serum SCCA2 levels. SCCA2 expression in skin was evaluated using immunohistochemical analysis. Serum SCCA2 levels were compared with Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores. The effect of treatment on serum SCCA2 levels was assessed using serial examinations. Induction of SCCA2 by several psoriatic cytokines in human keratinocytes was evaluated.
Results
The serum levels of SCCA2 were significantly higher in patients with psoriasis than healthy controls and correlated well with disease severity. Increased SCCA2 staining was observed in lesional skin but not in nonlesional skin of patients with psoriasis. In addition, SCCA2 expression levels in skin correlated with serum concentrations of SCCA2. SCCA2 significantly decreased according to improvement of PASI scores. Interleukin (IL)‐17 and IL‐22 synergistically increased the production of SCCA2 at both mRNA and protein levels in human keratinocytes.
Conclusions
Significant elevation of SCCA2 is associated with disease severity and reflects treatment efficacy. SCCA2 may be a useful biomarker in psoriasis, reflecting T‐helper 17‐type inflammation – the main determinant of the severity of psoriasis.
What's already known about this topic?
Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) belongs to the ovalbumin–serpin family.
Serum SCCA level has been widely used as a tumour marker.
Serum SCCA level is increased in patients with psoriasis.
What does this study add?
SCCA2 level was significantly higher in patients with psoriasis than healthy volunteers in both skin and serum.
Serum SCCA2 level was strongly correlated with psoriasis severity score and reflected treatment efficacy.
Expression of SCCA2 was elevated in the epidermis of patients with psoriasis and its intensity was correlated with serum SCCA2 level.
SCCA2 was strongly induced by T‐helper (Th) 17‐type cytokines in human keratinocytes.
What is the translational message?
SCCA2 may be a useful biomarker in psoriasis, reflecting Th17‐type inflammation.
Linked Comment: Yamanaka and Mizutani. Br J Dermatol 2016; 174: 1191–1192.
Plain language summary available online
The importance of developing a method to bridge the gap between the current increasing trend of CO
2 emission from the commercial sector and the reduced emission level for ensuring long-term ...sustainability has increased. Various concepts exist for managing the energy use and CO
2 emission. These concepts can be categorized into advancement in technologies, dissemination of energy saving measures in buildings, optimization of local energy generation and distribution systems, spatial building stock pattern management, and improvement in CO
2 emission factor of the grid electricity. In this paper, we propose a modeling approach for energy use in the commercial sector in order to evaluate the options involved in the abovementioned energy management concepts in an integrated manner. In this modeling approach, a district is dealt with as a basic unit. Districts are first classified into several categories according to the spatial building stock pattern, or urban form. The end-use energy consumption per unit floor area is then calculated for each district category using a simulation of energy use in buildings in a representative district; this is used for quantifying the total end-use energy consumption at the municipal level. We carried out a case study in order to demonstrate the simulation capabilities and features of the suggested modeling approach in contrast with the conventional modeling approaches. In this case study, certain scenarios of CO
2 abatement integrating the energy management concepts are applied in the commercial sector of Osaka city, Japan, in order to investigate alternative avenues toward which policy efforts must be directed.
Teeth consist of 3 mineralized tissues: enamel, dentin, and cementum. Tooth malformation, the most common craniofacial anomaly, arises from complex genetic and environmental factors affecting enamel ...structure, size, shape, and tooth eruption. Hyaluronic acid (HA), a primary extracellular matrix component, contributes to structural and physiological functions in periodontal tissue. Transmembrane protein 2 (TMEM2), a novel cell surface hyaluronidase, has been shown to play a critical role during embryogenesis. In this study, we demonstrate Tmem2 messenger RNA expression in inner enamel epithelium and presecretory, secretory, and mature ameloblasts. Tmem2 knock-in reporter mice reveal TMEM2 protein localization at the apical and basal ends of secretory ameloblasts. Micro–computed tomography analysis of epithelial-specific Tmem2 conditional knockout (Tmem2-CKO) mice shows a significant reduction in enamel layer thickness and severe enamel deficiency. Enamel matrix protein expression was remarkably downregulated in Tmem2-CKO mice. Scanning electron microscopy of enamel from Tmem2-CKO mice revealed an irregular enamel prism structure, while the microhardness and density of enamel were significantly reduced, indicating impaired ameloblast differentiation and enamel matrix mineralization. Histological evaluation indicated weak adhesion between cells and the basement membrane in Tmem2-CKO mice. The reduced and irregular expressions of vinculin and integrin β1 suggest that Tmem2 deficiency attenuated focal adhesion formation. In addition, abnormal HA accumulation in the ameloblast layer and weak claudin 1 immunoreactivity in Tmem2-CKO mice indicate impaired tight junction gate function. Irregular actin filament assembly was also observed at the apical and basal ends of secretory ameloblasts. Last, we demonstrated that Tmem2-deficient mHAT9d mouse ameloblasts exhibit defective adhesion to HA-containing substrates in vitro. Collectively, our data highlight the importance of TMEM2 in adhesion to HA-rich extracellular matrix, cell-to-cell adhesion, ameloblast differentiation, and enamel matrix mineralization.
We study nonoscillating bifurcations of nonhomogeneous steady states of the Vlasov equation, a situation occurring in galactic models, or for Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal modes in plasma physics. Through ...an unstable manifold expansion, we show that in one spatial dimension the dynamics is very sensitive to the initial perturbation: the instability may saturate at small amplitude-generalizing the "trapping scaling" of plasma physics-or may grow to produce a large-scale modification of the system. Furthermore, resonances are strongly suppressed, leading to different phenomena with respect to the homogeneous case. These analytical findings are illustrated and extended by direct numerical simulations with a cosine interaction potential.
Background/Objective
This post hoc analysis examined the effects of adalimumab in patients with scalp and/or nail psoriasis from BELIEVE (a randomized, controlled, multicentre phase 3 safety and ...efficacy trial).
Methods
Efficacy was assessed in the pooled treatment group (adalimumab with or without calcipotriol plus betamethasone dipropionate) by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (75% improvement; PASI 75), Psoriasis Scalp Severity Index (PSSI), Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and a visual analog scale (VAS) for pain.
Results
Of the 730 enrolled patients, 663 (91.3%), 457 (63.1%) and 433 (60.1%) had psoriasis of the scalp, nails, or both, respectively. Similar proportions of patients with (68.2%) and without (63.5%) scalp involvement achieved a PASI 75 response at week 16 adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.34; P = 0.320. PASI 75 response rates were lower in patients with nail psoriasis compared with patients without nail psoriasis at week 8 (53.0% vs. 62.9%; OR, 0.68; P = 0.019) and week 16 (65.0% vs. 73.0%; OR, 0.70; P = 0.052). PASI 75 response rates were 66.1% in patients with scalp and nail involvement and 70.8% in patients without both scalp and nail involvement at week 16 (OR, 0.87; P = 0.423). Patients in all scalp and nail subgroups reported improvements in DLQI and VAS pain scores throughout the study. Patients with scalp psoriasis exhibited large improvements in scalp symptoms demonstrated by a median (mean ± SD) decrease from baseline PSSI at week 16 of 100% (77.2 ± 96.9%). Patients with nail psoriasis improved, demonstrated by a median (mean ± SD) decrease from baseline NAPSI at week 16 of 39.5% (9.4 ± 164.5%).
Conclusion
Our results indicate that adalimumab improves overall psoriasis and scalp and nail symptoms in this patient population with scalp psoriasis and/or nail involvement. In addition, similar PASI 75 response rates are achieved in patients with and without scalp involvement, whereas patients with nail involvement demonstrate a moderate (perhaps delayed) PASI 75 response rate.
We present a result of a blind search for C ii 158 μm emitters at z ∼ 4.5 using Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 0 archival data. We collected extragalactic data covering at 330–360 GHz ...(band 7) from 8 Cycle 0 projects from which initial results have been already published. The total number of fields is 243 and the total on-source exposure time is 19.2 h. We searched for line emitters in continuum-subtracted data cubes with spectral resolutions of ∼50, 100, 300 and 500 km s−1. We could not detect any new line emitters above a 6σ significance level. This result provides upper limits to the C ii luminosity function at z ∼ 4.5 over
$L_{\rm C\,{\small {II}}} \sim 10^8\hbox{--}10^{10} \,\mathrm{L}_{{\odot }}$
or star formation rate, SFR ∼ 10–1000 M
$_{^{\odot }}$
yr−1. These limits are at least two orders of magnitude larger than the C ii luminosity functions expected from the z ∼ 4 UV luminosity function or from numerical simulation. However, this study demonstrates that we would be able to better constrain the C ii luminosity function and to investigate possible contributions from dusty galaxies to the cosmic star formation rate density by collecting Cycle 1+2 archival data as the ALMA Patchy Deep Survey.
Summary
Background
Recent findings indicate that periostin, an extracellular matrix protein induced by T helper 2 cytokines, plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD).
...Objectives
To determine whether serum periostin level is associated with clinical phenotype in adult patients with AD.
Methods
An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was performed to determine serum periostin levels in 257 adult patients with AD, 66 patients with psoriasis vulgaris (PV) as a disease control and 25 healthy controls. Serum periostin levels were analysed together with clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters, including thymus and activation‐regulated chemokine (TARC), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), blood eosinophil count and total IgE. Immunohistochemical analysis evaluated the expression of periostin in association with various clinical phenotypes of AD. The effect of treatment on serum periostin level was also assessed.
Results
Serum periostin was significantly higher in patients with AD than in patients with PV and healthy controls. Periostin level was found to be positively correlated with disease severity, TARC level, LDH level and eosinophil count, but not with IgE level. Higher serum periostin level was observed in patients with extrinsic AD compared with patients with intrinsic AD; the positive correlation of disease severity disappeared in patients with intrinsic AD. Robust expression of periostin was detected in the dermis of patients with AD with erythroderma, lichenification and, to a lesser extent, scaly erythema. Serial measurement of serum periostin revealed decreased levels of periostin after treatment for AD.
Conclusions
Periostin may play a critical role in disease severity and chronicity in the pathogenesis of AD.
What's already known about this topic?
Periostin is a matricellular protein that modulates wound healing and fibrosis.
Recent findings indicate that periostin plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD).
T helper (Th)2 cytokine‐induced periostin activates keratinocytes, which amplify Th2 inflammation, leading to the maintenance of allergic skin inflammation.
Whether differential levels of periostin are associated with the severity and clinical phenotype of AD has not been elucidated.
What does this study add?
Serum periostin level was significantly elevated in patients with AD.
Positive correlations were observed with disease severity, thymus and activation‐regulated chemokine level, lactate dehydrogenase level and eosinophil count.
Expression of periostin was elevated in serum and skin of patients with AD with erythroderma and lichenification, but not in those with prurigo‐type AD, even when widely distributed over the body.
Periostin may reflect the disease severity and clinical phenotype of AD.
The relationship between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and climatic variables was analysed on a global scale using the Pathfinder AVHRR Land NDVI data set, and observed climate ...data for the period 1982-1990. A significant correlation between interannual NDVI and temperature variation was recognized in the northern mid- to high latitude areas between spring and autumn. A significant correlation was also identified between the NDVI, temperature and precipitation in northern and southern semiarid regions. A comparison of global NDVI trends show that NDVI increases in the northern mid- and high latitudinal zones are related to temperature rise, and NDVI decreases in southern semiarid regions are due to a precipitation decrease in the survey period. Although the cause of NDVI increases in the equatorial regions remains unclear, the combined effects of forest regrowth, deforestation and fertilization may impact on the NDVI trend.
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