Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is an important regulator of melanogenesis and melanocyte development. Although it has been studied extensively in cutaneous melanoma, the role of MITF in uveal melanoma (UM) has not been explored...
Pigmentation is an important process in skin physiology and skin diseases and presumably also plays a role in Parkinson’s disease (PD). In PD, alpha-Synuclein (aSyn) has been shown to be involved in the pigmentation of neurons. The presynaptic...
Melanocytes are pigment producing cells in the skin that give rise to cutaneous malignant melanoma, which is a highly aggressive and the deadliest form of skin cancer. Studying melanocytes in vivo is often difficult due to their small proportion in t...
Cellular senescence is induced in response to cellular stressors such as increased levels of reactive oxygen species. The chronic accumulation of senescent cells is currently recognized as a contributor to the pathologic processes of diverse degenera...
GNAI2 (G protein subunit alpha i2) is a signaling modulator or transducer, involved in several transmembrane signaling systems, that plays a vital role in the melanogenesis signaling pathway. However, whether GNAI2 regulates cell proliferation and ap...
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/ mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-MET) signaling is involved in complex cellular programs that are important for embryonic development and tissue regeneration, but its activity is also utilized by cancer cell...
Melanocytes reside within the basal epidermis of human skin, and function to protect the skin from ultraviolet light through the production of melanin. Prolonged exposure of the skin to UV light can induce irreparable DNA damage and drive cells into...
Although numerous animal models, especially mouse models, have been established for the study of melanoma, they often fail to accurately describe the mechanisms of human disease because of their anatomic, physiological, and immune differences. The do...
The MC1R/cAMP/MITF pathway is a key determinant for growth, differentiation, and survival of melanocytes and melanoma. MITF-M is the melanocyte-specific isoform of Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor (MITF) in human melanoma. Here we use t...
Melanocytes produce melanin to protect the skin from UV-B radiation. Notwithstanding, the spectrum of their functions extends far beyond their well-known role as melanin production factories. Melanocytes have been considered as sensory and computatio...
Fluoride exposure has adverse effects on human health that have been studied in vitro in cell culture systems. Melanocytes are the melanin pigment-producing cells that have a significant role in the regulation of the process of melanogenesis, which p...
Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation disrupts the redox balance of melanocytes and may lead to the development of melanoma, highlighting the need for new skin protection strategies. This study assessed the effect of phytocannabinoids [cannabigerol (CBG), ca...
Hair follicles harbor a heterogeneous regenerative cell pool and represent a putative low-to-non-invasively available source of stem cells. We previously reported a technology for culturing human melanocytes from the hair follicle outer root sheath (...
Rhododenol (RD), a whitening cosmetic ingredient, was withdrawn from the market due to RD-induced leukoderma (RIL). While many attempts have been made to clarify the mechanism underlying RIL, RIL has not been fully understood yet. Indeed, affected su...
Tigecycline is an antibiotic belonging to the glycylcycline group of tetracyclines. Similar to other tetracycline derivatives, tigecycline is used in dermatology because of its bacteriostatic effect. Despite an overall favorable safety profile, tetra...
Skin melanocytes harbor a complex photosensitive system comprised of opsins, which were shown, in recent years, to display light- and thermo-independent functions. Based on this premise, we investigated whether melanopsin, OPN4, displays such a role...
Pigmentation in the dermis is known to be caused by melanophages, defined as melanosome-laden macrophages. In this study, we show that dermal fibroblasts also have an ability to uptake melanosomes and apoptotic melanocytes. We have previously demonst...
Malignant melanoma represents a highly aggressive form of skin cancer. The metastatic process itself is mostly governed by the so-called epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), which confers cancer cells migrative, invasive and resistance abilities....
Expression of Nodal, a Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-β) related growth factor, is associated with aggressive melanoma. Nodal expression in adult dysplastic nevi may predict the development of aggressive melanoma in some patients. A subset of p...
Detection and quantification of senescent cells remain difficult due to variable phenotypes and the absence of highly specific and reliable biomarkers. It is therefore widely accepted to use a combination of multiple markers and cellular characterist...
The development of an effective method of melanocyte isolation and culture is necessary for basic and clinical studies concerning skin diseases, including skin pigmentation disorders and melanoma. In this paper, we describe a novel, non-enzymatic and...
30 September 2004
Arsenical keratosis and skin cancer are among the most common health effects associated with acute and chronic exposures to arsenic. This study examines the acute and chronic dose-responses of arsenic in established human cell lines using keratinocyt...
Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is the principal transcription factor regulating pivotal processes in melanoma cell development, growth, survival, proliferation, differentiation and invasion. In recent years, convincing evidence...
Primary human epidermal melanocytes are valuable models for pigmentation research, but maintaining prolonged expansion together with stable melanocytic characteristics can be challenging. Here, primary melanocytes were transduced with an hTERT-overex...
Psoriasis vulgaris is a T-cell-mediated skin disease that may involve an autoimmune response against melanocytes. It develops through still unexplained pathomechanisms. Streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis is a major trigger of psoriasis onset and relap...
Skin pigmentation ensures efficient photoprotection and relies on the pigment melanin, which is produced by epidermal melanocytes and transferred to surrounding keratinocytes. While the molecular mechanisms of melanin synthesis and transport in melan...
UVB phototherapy effectively treats psoriasis. Although it suppresses both innate and adaptive immunity, it remains unclear why UVB irradiation is primarily effective for T-cell-mediated but not inflammatory skin diseases of other etiologies. Using a...
In this study, we examined the cytotoxic effects of six commercial children’s mouthrinses (designated as #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6) and four commercial children’s toothpastes (designated as #1, #2, #3, and #4) on primary human neonatal m...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of melanogenesis and coat color in mammals. Short tandem target mimics (STTMs) have been used to block the functions of small RNA in animals and plants. To investigate the role of miR-5110 in...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating almost all biological processes. miRNAs bind to the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs by sequence matching. In a previous study, we demonstrated that miR-21 was differently expressed in alpa...
Skin is a major target of oxidative stress. Increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress is the cause of melanocyte disappearance in vitiligo, which is an acquired pigmentary skin disorder characterized by patches of skin that have lost pigment...
(1) Background: It was found that the melanin of black-bone chicken has various effects such as scavenging DPPH free radicals and anti-oxidation, and the synthesis of melanin is affected by various factors including hormones. In addition, several stu...
Staphylococcus aureus, a gram-positive bacterium, causes toxic shock through the production of superantigenic toxins (sAgs) known as Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE), serotypes A-J (SEA, SEB, etc.), and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1). The chro...
Post-burn hypertrophic scars often exhibit abnormal pigmentation. Exosomes play important roles in maintaining normal physiological homeostasis and in the pathological development of diseases. This study investigated the effects of the exosomes deriv...
Both poliosis (circumscribed depigmentation of the hair in any area of the body) and halo nevi (a melanocytic nevus which acquires a surrounding depigmented rim) are characterized by depigmentation driven by a T-cell-mediated loss of functional melan...
Limbal melanocytes (LMs) are found in the corneoscleral limbus basal epithelial layer and interact with neighboring limbal epithelial progenitor cells. The difficulty of isolating and cultivating LMs is due to the small fraction of LMs in the overall...
Hypertension is known to be a multifactorial disease associated with abnormalities in neuroendocrine, metabolic, and hemodynamic systems. Poorly controlled hypertension causes more than one in eight premature deaths worldwide. Hydrochlorothiazide (HC...
The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of concomitant use of cannabigerol (CBG) and 3-O-ethylascorbic acid (EAA) on changes in the proteome of UVA-irradiated skin melanocytes, with particular emphasis on adduct formation between lipid peroxi...
Pronounced melanin enrichment characterizes the Lueyang black-boned chicken, yet the transcriptional basis underlying this pigmentation phenotype remains incompletely understood. We established a standardized in vitro culture system for primary avian...
Melanoma is an aggressive disease that arises from mutations in the cells that produce the pigment melanin, melanocytes. Melanoma is characterized by a high mortality rate, due to avoidance of applied therapies and metastasis to other organs. The pec...
As the outermost barrier of the body, skin is a major target of oxidative stress. In the brain, estrogen has been reported synthesized locally and protects neurons from oxidative stress. Here, we explored whether estrogen is also locally synthesized...
Minocycline is a semisynthetic tetracycline antibiotic. In addition to its antibacterial activity, minocycline shows many non-antibiotic, beneficial effects, including antioxidative action. The property is responsible, e.g., for anti-inflammatory, ne...
Melanogenesis is a complex physiological mechanism involving various paracrine factors. Skin cells such as keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and melanocytes communicate with one another through secreted regulators, thereby regulating the melanocytes’...
Cutaneous Melanoma (CM) is a leading cause of cancer deaths, with reports indicating a rising trend in the incidence rate of melanoma among Hispanics in certain U.S. states. The level of melanin pigmentation in the skin is suggested to render photopr...
Melittin is a major active ingredient of the bee venom produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera) that exerts various biological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-microbial, and antioxidant. The role of melittin in modulating melanin p...
Triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), two resin monomers often used in dental restorative materials, are leached due to insufficient polymerization and contact cells of the oral cavity. Despite reports on...
Interactions between limbal epithelial progenitor cells (LEPC) and surrounding niche cells, which include limbal mesenchymal stromal cells (LMSC) and melanocytes (LM), are essential for the maintenance of the limbal stem cell niche required for a tra...
Sanqi, a traditional Chinese herb, is widely used for cardiovascular diseases, and its neuroprotective effects against oxidative stress were recently discovered. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Sanqi-derived compound K (Sanqi-CK)...
The increasing use of e-cigarettes (ECs) has raised public health concerns due to the observed cytotoxic effects in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Infants and young children, being particularly vulnerable groups, exhibit heightened susceptibility...
Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is one of the primary ingredients of cannabis plants and is responsible for the psychoactive properties of cannabis. While cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive compound from cannabis, has been shown to stimulate...
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