Ki67 and CD31 Differential Expression in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma and Its Mimickers: Association with Clinicopathological Criteria and Disease Advancement

The Tumor Microenvironment as a Therapeutic Target in Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma

Cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCLs) are a heterogeneous group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome being the two common subtypes. Despite the substantial improvement in early-stage diagnosis and treatments, some patients still progress to the advanced stage with an elusive underpinning mechanism. While this unsubstantiated disease mechanism coupled with diverse clinical outcomes poses challenges in disease management, emerging evidence has implicated the tumor microenvironment in the disease process, thus revealing a promising therapeutic potential of targeting the tumor microenvironment. Notably, malignant T cells can shape their microenvironment to dampen antitumor immunity, leading to Th2-dominated responses that promote tumor progression. This is largely orchestrated by alterations in cytokines expression patterns, genetic dysregulations, inhibitory effects of immune checkpoint molecules, and immunosuppressive cells. Herein, the recent insights into the determining factors in the CTCL tumor microenvironment that support their progression have been highlighted. Also, recent advances in strategies to target the CTCL tumor micromovement with the rationale of improving treatment efficacy have been discussed.

Dermatoscopic Characteristics, Lesional Capillaroscopic Features, and Histopathological Correlation of Small Plaque Parapsoriasis and Mycosis Fungoides

INTRODUCTION

Dermatoscopy is a frequently used non-invasive diagnostic procedure.

OBJECTIVES

Considering that mycosis fungoides (MF) mimics parapsoriasis clinically in early stages, we aim to determine the dermatoscopic criteria and the histopathological correlations in patients with MF and small plaque parapsoriasis (SPP).

METHODS

This prospective study involved 28 patients with clinical and histopathological diagnoses of MF and 31 patients with SPP. Videodermoscopy and USB capillaroscope were used to evaluate the patients vessels at ×200 magnification. Vascularity was evaluated through microvascular density (MVD) scoring involving CD34 antibody staining.

RESULTS

Fifty-nine patients were included in this study. The scores corresponding to the presence of short linear vessels, linear-curved vessels, branching linear vessels, and non- structured orange-colored areas were significantly higher in the MF patients than in the SPP patients (P < 0.05). The highest MVD (P = 0.01) scores were also higher in the MF patients than in the SPP patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The SPP and early-stage MF patients differed in their MVD scores, and the findings correlated with the dermatoscopy and lesional capillaroscopy findings. Differentiating features between SPP and MF were thus identified.

Nano-Chitosan/Eucalyptus Oil/Cellulose Acetate Nanofibers: Manufacturing, Antibacterial and Wound Healing Activities

Accelerated wound healing in infected skin is still one of the areas where current therapeutic tactics fall short, which highlights the critical necessity for the exploration of new therapeutic approaches. The present study aimed to encapsulate Eucalyptus oil in a nano-drug carrier to enhance its antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, in vitro, and in vivo wound healing studies of the novel nano-chitosan/Eucalyptus oil/cellulose acetate electrospun nanofibers were investigated. Eucalyptus oil showed a potent antimicrobial activity against the tested pathogens and the highest inhibition zone diameter, MIC, and MBC (15.3 mm, 16.0 μg/mL, and 256 μg/mL, respectively) were recorded against Staphylococcus aureus. Data indicated a three-fold increase in the antimicrobial activity of Eucalyptus oil encapsulated chitosan nanoparticle (43 mm inhibition zone diameter against S. aureus). The biosynthesized nanoparticles had a 48.26 nm particle size, 19.0 mV zeta potential, and 0.45 PDI. Electrospinning of nano-chitosan/Eucalyptus oil/cellulose acetate nanofibers was conducted, and the physico-chemical and biological properties revealed that the synthesized nanofibers were homogenous, with a thin diameter (98.0 nm) and a significantly high antimicrobial activity. The in vitro cytotoxic effect in a human normal melanocyte cell line (HFB4) proved an 80% cell viability using 1.5 mg/mL of nano-chitosan/Eucalyptus oil/cellulose acetate nanofibers. In vitro and in vivo wound healing studies revealed that nano-chitosan/Eucalyptus oil/cellulose acetate nanofibers were safe and efficiently enhanced the wound-healing process through enhancing TGF-β, type I and type III collagen production. As a conclusion, the manufactured nano-chitosan/Eucalyptus oil/cellulose acetate nanofiber showed effective potentiality for its use as a wound healing dressing.

Circulating MiRNA-21-enriched extracellular vesicles promote bone remodeling in traumatic brain injury patients

Fracture combined with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common and serious types of compound trauma in the clinic and is characterized by dysfunction of cellular communication in injured organs. Our prior studies found that TBI was capable of enhancing fracture healing in a paracrine manner. Exosomes (Exos), as small extracellular vesicles, are important paracrine vehicles for noncell therapy. However, whether circulating Exos derived from TBI patients (TBI-Exos) regulate the prohealing effects of fractures remains unclear. Thus, the present study aimed to explore the biological effects of TBI-Exos on fracture healing and reveal the potential molecular mechanism. TBI-Exos were isolated by ultracentrifugation, and the enriched miR-21-5 p was identified by qRT‒PCR analysis. The beneficial effects of TBI-Exos on osteoblastic differentiation and bone remodeling were determined by a series of in vitro assays. Bioinformatics analyses were conducted to identify the potential downstream mechanisms of the regulatory effect of TBI-Exos on osteoblasts. Furthermore, the role of the potential signaling pathway of TBI-Exos in mediating the osteoblastic activity of osteoblasts was assessed. Subsequently, a murine fracture model was established, and the effect of TBI-Exos on bone modeling was demonstrated in vivo. TBI-Exos can be internalized by osteoblasts, and in vitro, suppression of SMAD7 promoted osteogenic differentiation, whereas knockdown of miR-21-5 p in TBI-Exos strongly inhibited this bone-beneficial effect. Similarly, our results confirmed that preinjection of TBI-Exos led to enhanced bone formation, whereas knockdown of exosomal miR-21-5 p substantially impaired this bone-beneficial effect in vivo.

LncRNA GASAL1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by up-regulating USP10-stabilized PCNA

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a fatal malignancy which has insufficient treatment options. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) GASAL1 was discovered to be conspicuously up-regulated in HCC. However, the study on the role of GASAL1 in HCC reamins limited. Our study aimed at exploring the role and mechanism of GASAL1 in HCC. RT-qPCR or Western blot was conducted to examine the expression of RNAs or proteins. Functional assays were carried out to investigate the impact of GASAL1, USP10, and PCNA on HCC cells. Mechanism assays were performed to fathom out the relationship among GASAL1, miR-193b-5p, USP10, and PCNA. In vivo assays were also employed to determine the role of GASAL1 in HCC tumor growth and metastases. According to the data collected, GASAL1 displayed a high expression in HCC cells and GASAL1 knockdown led to impeded cell proliferation and migration, as well as tumor progression. A series of mechanism analysis demonstrated GASAL1 could sponge miR-193b-5p to raise the expression of USP10. Moreover, USP10 could induce PCNA deubiquitination to promote HCC cell growth. To conclude, GASAL1 plays an oncogenic role in HCC. GASAL1 could up-regulate USP10 via competitively binding to miR-193b-5p. And USP10 could strengthen cell proliferative and migratory abilities through deubiquitinating PCNA.

Keratin 17 upregulation promotes cell metastasis and angiogenesis in colon adenocarcinoma

Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD), having high malignancy and poor prognosis, is the main pathological type of colon cancer. Previous studies show that Keratin 17 (KRT17) plays an important role in the development of many malignant tumors. However, its role and the molecular mechanism underlying COAD remain unclear. Using TCGA and ONCOMINE databases, as well as immunohistochemistry, we found that the expression of KRT17 was higher in COAD tissues as compared to that in the adjacent normal tissues. Cell- and animal-based experiments showed that overexpression of KRT17 promoted the invasion and metastasis of colon cancer cells while knocking down KRT17 reversed these processes both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we also showed that KRT17 promoted the formation of new blood vessels. Mechanistically, KRT17 could regulate the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway, and APC may be involved in this process by interacting with KRT17. In summary, these findings suggested that high expression of KRT17 could promote cell metastasis and angiogenesis of colon cancer cells by regulating the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway. Thus, KRT17 could be a potential therapeutic target for COAD treatment.