OBJECTIVE Sulfur mustard (SM) is a potent alkylating agent that can induce severe cutaneous injury. Though much is known regarding the gross pathology of SM injury, the molecular and cellular basis for this pathology is not well understood. General cellular processes such as inflammation, DNA damage response, and apoptosis have been hypothesized to be involved in SM injury. However, the specifi...

Angiogenesis is a prominent feature of a number of inflammatory human diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions. Up-regulation of placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family, has been found in several conditions associated with pathologic angiogenesis; however, its distinc...

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE; syn LE-specific skin disease) is an autoimmune disease with well-defined skin manifestations often accentuated in a photodistribution and frequently associated with specific autoantibodies. These clinical observations have led to numerous laboratory studies related to the role of ultraviolet light, as well as studies of the cascade of immunologic events involv...

Although excessive exposure to UV is widely recognized as a major factor leading to skin perturbations and cancer, the complex mechanisms underlying inflammatory skin disorders resulting from UV exposure remain incompletely characterized. The nuclear hormone receptor PPARβ/δ is known to control mouse cutaneous repair and UV-induced skin cancer development. Here, we describe a novel PPARβ/δ-depe...

Although excessive exposure to UV is widely recognized as a major factor leading to skin perturbations and cancer, the complex mechanisms underlying inflammatory skin disorders resulting from UV exposure remain incompletely characterized. The nuclear hormone receptor PPARb/d is known to control mouse cutaneous repair and UV-induced skin cancer development. Here, we describe a novel PPARb/d-depe...

Vasculitides is a group of disorders characterized by inflammation of vessel walls. The unique feature of this group is multi-organ involvement. Because of the rich vasculature, the skin is prone to be frequently affected in vasculitis. Cutaneous involvement in vasculitides may be primary or reflector of a fatal systemic disease or evidence of association with some other systemic disorder. Some...

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown etiology and pathogenesis with a chronic course characterized by multiple remissions and relapses. Besides a brief review of relevant literature, this paper reports on a 70-year-old Saudi male patient who presented with a rare form of cutaneous sarcoidosis masquerading as psoriasis. Physical examination revealed presence of multiple,...

Angiogenesis is a prominent feature of a number of inflammatory human diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions. Upregulation of placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family, has been found in several conditions associated with pathological angiogenesis; however, its distin...

Acute psychological stress (PS) mobilizes metabolic responses that are of immediate benefit to the host, but the current medical paradigm holds that PS exacerbates systemic and cutaneous inflammatory disorders. Although the adverse consequences of PS are usually attributed to neuroimmune mechanisms, PS also stimulates an increase in endogenous glucocorticoids (GCs) that compromises permeability...

BackgroundBone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are members of the TGF-β family that signal via BMP receptor (BMPR) signaling cascade, distinct from canonical signaling. downstream is strongly induced within epidermal keratinocytes in cutaneous psoriatic lesions, and BMP7 instructs monocytic cells to acquire characteristics psoriasis-associated Langerhans dendritic (DCs). Regulatory T (Treg)-cell ...