BACKGROUND: VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) is one of the growth factors, which directly affects vascular endothelial cells and evokes proliferation, migration and chemotaxis of endothelial cells. Studies have provided inconsistent results about the expression of VEGF in the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or oral mucosa. The purpose of the present study was to assess the frequency of V...

BACKGROUND The glycoprotein (gp) 96 links the adaptive with the innate immune system. It is a chaperone with a binding domain for peptides generated by proteasomal degradation. During cellular stress, peptide loaded gp96 can be released and presented to T cells by antigen presenting cells (APCs). METHODS mRNAs from in vitro differentiated macrophages (iv mac) and normal intestinal macrophages...

Histamine is an important stimulator of gastric acid secretion. In experimental animals, inhibition of acid secretion by long term histamine2 receptor blockade causes hypergastrinemia, proliferation of enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells, and formation of histamine-producing gastric carcinoids. The aim of this study was to examine the role of gastrin in histamine synthesis and metabolism of the o...

This study was designed to estimate objectively the hardness of the oral mucosa which is not directly supported by the bone. A new, easy-to-use hardness-measurement apparatus for measuring the oral mucosa free of the underlining bone was manufactured for trial use. The hardness values of the oral mucosa were evaluated quantitatively, resulting from pressing 2 mm into the mucosa with a 2-mm-in-d...

A 51 year old woman was referred to dermatology clinic with multiple asymptomatic erythematus papules and plaques on her back, which she had developed over the previous 2 months ago. In the dermatological examination, there were multiple atrophic papules with hypopigmented centers and sharp borders on her back, some of which were annular with elevated violaceous borders (Figures 1, 2). Fu...

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the oral mucosa which is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a premalignant condition. One step in malignant development is so called epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process whereby epithelial cells acquire mesenchymal characteristics. A factor known to induce EMT is the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β...

Gastric cancer is a pathological process of an accumulation of multigene and multistage mutations. A new gene segment, MDSCBC11, has been previously obtained using a gene chip and is negatively associated with gastric cancer. The present study aimed to clone the full cDNA sequence of the MDSCBC11 segment and to detect its expression in gastric carcinomas and normal gastric mucosa. Multiple-tiss...