Alopecia barbae is the localised form of alopecia areata of the beard region in males.
Even though not frequently reported, it is the second most common reason of concern and dermatologic ...consultations for male adults suffering from alopecia areata.
It can be treated with application of topical or intralesional corticosteroids
; however, it warrants monitoring since new lesions of alopecia can potentially appear on the scalp.
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Article Note: Funding sources: this work was supported by the PROGRES Q28 (oncology) research programme awarded by the Charles University, Prague. Conflicts of interest: M.A. reports fees for ...advisory boards from AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb. S.G. has received honoraria as a speaker and/or consultant for AbbVie, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, UCB and LEO Pharma. P.A. reports personal fees from Amgen, MSD, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche, outside the submitted work. E.M., A.S. and D.Z. declare they have no conflicts of interest.
Background
‘Braun’ is an illegal injectable dihydrocodeinone‐enriched drug mixture of semi‐synthetic opioids. It is prepared by palladium‐catalysed hydrogenation from codeine‐containing tablets.
...Objective
We aimed to characterize the dermatologic consequences of long‐term abuse of ‘Braun’.
Methods
Skin biopsies of two long‐term ‘Braun’ abusers were evaluated histopathologically, immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Palladium skin content was assessed by X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.
Results
Both patients showed generalized diffuse dark blue–grey hyperpigmentation of the skin. In both, an abnormal population of cells containing intracytoplasmic brownish granular material was identified in the papillary dermis by light microscopy. Electron microscopy revealed a dense and minimally structured material that predominantly accumulated in macrophages, fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells. XRF analysis confirmed elevated levels of palladium in the patient's skin in comparison to healthy controls.
Conclusion
Long‐term abuse of palladium‐contaminated dihydrocodeinone (‘Braun’) results in excessive accumulation of granular material in various dermal cell types and causes generalized diffuse skin hyperpigmentation.
Melanoma antigens are biomarkers for ipilimumab response Arenberger, P.; Fialova, A.; Gkalpakiotis, S. ...
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology,
February 2017, Letnik:
31, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Background
Novel immunotherapy modalities significantly improve survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, CTLA‐4‐blocking monoclonal antibody ipilimumab is effective only in a small ...proportion of patients. Biomarkers for prediction of treatment response are indispensably needed.
Objective
To determine the utility of multimarker detection of circulating melanoma cells as prognostic and pharmacodynamic biomarker in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with ipilimumab.
Methods
Patients (n = 62) with metastatic melanoma in unresectable stage III or metastatic stage IV treated with ipilimumab were recruited prospectively. The values of four melanoma markers on circulating cells Melan‐A, gp100, MAGE‐3 and melanoma inhibitory antigen prior to the treatment and within the therapy were compared to the data collected at baseline – after the melanoma surgery.
Results
The immunotherapy pretreatment marker level was found to be prognostic of overall survival; lower levels were linked to longer survival time. Moreover, longitudinal follow‐up of melanoma markers in patients treated with ipilimumab correlates with therapy response. A decline of marker levels by >30% at week 6 (in 83% of the responding subjects) to week 9 (in all responders) of ipilimumab administration was associated with response to therapy. Elevation of the tumour markers during the treatment precedes clinical progression and gives an early warning of treatment failure.
Conclusion
Melanoma circulating cells hold potential as predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarker of immunotherapy.
Tralokinumab is a human monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-13 that is approved for the treatment of moderate-severe atopic dermatitis. Studies analyzing the efficacy and safety of tralokinumab ...in a real-world setting are scarce.
A European, multicentric, real-world, retrospective cohort study was defined to assess the effectiveness and safeness profile of tralokinumab, investigating the achievement of pre-specified treatment goals; and to detect potential differences in terms of effectiveness and safeness across some selected patient subcohorts.
A total of 194 adult patients were included in this study. A significant improvement in physician-assessed disease severity was detected at each follow-up visit as compared with baseline and similar trend was observed for patient-reported outcomes and quality of life. No meaningful difference in effectiveness was found when considering patient age (<65 versus ≥65 years), neither dissecting patient cohort in dupilumab-naive vs dupilumab-treated subjects. Among tralokinumab-treated patients, 88% achieved at least one currently identified real-world therapeutic goal at week 16.
This retrospective multicenter study confirmed the effectiveness and safeness of tralokinumab throughout 32 weeks of observation, showing the achievement of therapeutic goals identified in both trial and real-world settings in a large proportion of tralokinumab-treated patients.
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