Content - Volume 66, Issue 3

An antiserum prepared against a glycoprotein (GP37) extracted from the upper epidermal layers, was used to stain frozen sections of human oral mucosa, normal and abnormal skin by an indirect immunofluorescence technique. On normal human epidermis, this antiserum mainly reacted with the cytoplasm of granular cells, whereas on buccal mucosa the recognized antigen was observed as scattered dots limit ...

The tissue distribution of T cells and interleukin-2 receptor bearing (Tac+) lymphocytes was studied immunohistochemically in frozen sections of biopsies from inflamed skin. In skin lesions caused by irritant or immunologic stimuli, relatively few (less than 5%) of the total dermal infiltrating T cells were Tac+, but in both types of conditions the Tac+ cells showed a predeliction for the epidermi ...

T lymphocyte lines specific for cobalt (CoCl2) were established from one cobalt and nickel sensitive donor. The lines were generated by stimulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBL) with CoCl2 for 7 days. The activated blasts were maintained in interleukin 2 containing media and every 7-10 day restimulated with antigen (CoCl2) and fresh irradiated PBL. The antigen specificity of the lines w ...

The ultrastructural morphology of both the classical and the AIDS-associated forms of Kaposi´s sarcoma was examined electron-microscopically. Tubuloreticular structures were found only in the AIDS-associated form of Kaposi´s sarcoma, and not in the classical variant of the tumor. Moreover, the tubuloreticular structures, 20-30 nm in diameter, were present in very high numbers and in two differen ...

Characteristics of Wells´ syndrome are recurrent episodes of edema and erythema of sudden onset, often covering large areas of the skin. Microscopy shows marked eosinophilia and the presence of so-called flame figures. The flame figures have been considered to be either secondary to aggregates of expelled eosinophilic granules and disintergrating eosinophils, or foci of necrobiotic collagen. Our ...

Small intestinal mucosa from 14 patients suffering from progressive systemic sclerosis and 22 patients with various other diseases was analysed for collagen components. There was no significant difference in the concentration of hydroxyproline, hydroxylysine and proline between the two groups. Rectal mucosa from 11 progressive systemic sclerosis patients, 5 patients with ulcerative colitis and 7 p ...

Pituitary function (TRH-LHRH stimulation test) was investigated in male acne patients and serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and other biochemical parameters were investigated in male acne patients and in female acne patients before and after treatment with an oral contraceptive. The TRH-LHRH stimulation test was performed with 15 male pat ...

In a case of epidermodysplasia verruciformis with impaired cell-mediated immunity and multiple skin cancers human papillomavirus type 5 (HPV5) DNA sequences were demonstrated in a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. HPV5 and HPV8 were detected in the benign disseminated skin lesions together with three newly characterized HPVs: HPV17, HPV19 and HPV24. A chronic infection with hepatitis B virus resu ...

The total serum concentrations of selenium, zinc, iron and copper were determined in geriatric patients with and without leg ulcers. The levels of selenium, zinc and iron were significantly lower and the copper/zinc ratio was significantly higher in the leg ulcer group compared with control patients. The serum-copper level and the serum-copper/zinc ratio were raised in patients with poor ulcer hea ...

Epidermal calmodulin levels were measured in lesional and non-lesional skin in 20 psoriatics before and after treatment by a variety of established topical and systemic regimes. Pretreatment, 10 out of 20 patients showed elevated calmodulin levels in lesional epidermis. Clearance of psoriatic plaques was accompanied by a significant overall reduction (p less than 0.05) in epidermal calmodulin, irr ...

Out of 98 patients with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) living in Gothenburg, 14 were in spontaneous remission (29% of the patients without gluten free diet). Eight of these volunteered for dietary interviews and further studies. They do not seem to differ from symptomatic DH patients in the frequency of HLA-B8, achlorhydria or small-bowel enteropathy. Their estimated mean daily intake of gluten was ...

The ultrastructure of biopsies from dry macular and papular secondary syphilitic skin lesions of 10 patients were studied by electron microscopy. In all biopsies few diffusely distributed treponemes were observed. This may explain the difficulties in demonstrating treponemes by darkfield examination of tissue fluid from dry secondary syphilitic skin lesions. The outlines of treponemes were less di ...

In vitiligo patients, treated with oral phenylalanine loading combined with UVA irradiation (Phe-UVA), Langerhans´ cells (LC) were counted in pigmented and depigmented skin. The LC, which were labelled with OKT6 and HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies, were expressed per linear mm epidermis. Before treatment the number of OKT6(+) cells was significantly increased in vitiliginous skin especially in the b ...

The frequency distribution of HLA antigens was studied in a group of 40 patients with psoriatic arthritis from a region in North-eastern Italy. Our results indicate: 1) a strong association, in this population, between HLA-B16 and inflammatory spinal involvement; 2) a failure to confirm previous reports on HLA-B27 increased frequency in psoriatic spondylitis and/or sacroiliitis.

Hailey-Hailey´s disease is an autosomal hereditary disease of the skin for which only few data exist in regard to genetic markers concerning the HLA system. We report on HLA-A, B and C typing results finding an increased frequency of 55.5% HLA-B 16 positive patients compared to 8.2% in healthy controls.

Lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of fourteen patients with patchy alopecia areata or alopecia universalis were estimated using monoclonal antibodies and immunofluorescence. The median percentage of circulating Leu 2a, 3a, 4 and 7 positive cells ("T-suppressor/cytotoxic", "T-helper/effector", total T-cells and killer and natural killer cells) were normal.

Ninety-six patients suffering from alopecia areata have been treated with topical immunotherapy. Fifty-one have been treated with dinitrochlorobenzene and 45 with squaric acid dibutylester. Analysis of our group showed that 55 patients out of those 96, who entered the study, experienced hair regrowth during a period of 6-17 weeks of treatment. Of these 55 patients, 25 (45.4%) had a recurrence of A ...

Erythema elevatum diutinum (EED) is a chronic disease with symmetrical persistent erythematous nodules and plaques primarily in an acral distribution. EED is often associated with infections, especially of streptococcals. An immunological reaction has been proposed as pathogenetic mechanism. We describe a patient, who developed EED secondary to a LAV/HTLV III positive lymphadenopathy syndrome. Imm ...

No abstract available.