Squamous cell cancers comprise the most common type of human epithelial cancers. One subtype, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), is an aggressive cancer with poor prognosis due to late diagnosis and metastasis. Factors derived from the extracellular matrix (ECM) create an environment conducive to tumor growth and invasion. Specialized cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the ECM infl...

Squamous metaplasia in airway epithelium is a pathological process arising from abnormal remodeling/repair responses to injury. Proteolytic maturation of many growth and differentiation factors involved in tissue remodeling is controlled by proprotein convertases (PCs). However, the role of these convertases in airway remodeling remains poorly understood. Using a retinoic acid deficiency-induce...

BACKGROUND A school-based program with quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was implemented in Alberta in 2008. We assessed the impact of this program on Pap test cytology results using databases of province-wide vaccination and cervical cancer screening. METHODS We conducted a nested case-control study involving a cohort of women in Alberta born between 1994 and 1997 who had a...

Pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia (PEH) is a benign condition marked by reactive epithelial proliferation seen in response to various insults like trauma, infection, persistent inflammation and neoplasia. In this report, we discuss case of 35-year-old man who presented with perineal swelling, later turned into non-healing ulcer, first diagnosed as PEH. Still, after clinical suspicion, deeper bi...

Healing of cervical epithelium was studied in 30 patients after destruction of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia using a carbon dioxide laser. Repeated examinations, using photography and colposcopically directed punch biopsies, were made from the eighth to the 32nd day after treatment. The biopsy specimens were submitted to examination by light and transmission electron microscopy. There was ...

background: pericoronal tissue is the soft tissue located between the bony crypt and the impacted tooth, which is histologically composed of fi brous connective tissue and is usually lined by the reduced enamel epithelium. increased epithelial cell proliferation in the pericoronal tissue is associated with pathological changes such as development of an odontogenic cyst or an epithelial odontoge...

Smad4 is a central mediator for TGFbeta signals, which play important functions in many biological processes. To study the role of Smad4 in mammary gland development and neoplasia, we disrupted this gene in mammary epithelium using a Cre-loxP approach. Smad4 is expressed in the mammary gland throughout development; however, its inactivation did not cause abnormal development of the gland during...

Since the lung is repeatedly subjected to injury by pathogens and toxicants, maintenance of pulmonary homeostasis requires rapid repair of its epithelial surfaces. Ciliated bronchiolar epithelial cells, previously considered as terminally differentiated, underwent squamous cell metaplasia within hours after bronchiolar injury with naphthalene. Expression of transcription factors active in morph...

In vivo studies have demonstrated that p63 plays complex and pivotal roles in pluristratified squamous epithelial development, but its precise function and the nature of the isoform involved remain controversial. Here, we investigate the role of p63 in epithelial differentiation, using an in vitro ES cell model that mimics the early embryonic steps of epidermal development. We show that the Del...