Human skin wounds heal largely by reparative wound healing rather than regenerative wound healing. Human skin wounds heal with scarring and without pilosebaceous units or other appendages. Dermal fibroblasts come…
Melanocytic nevi represent benign clonal proliferations of the melanocytes in the skin that usually remain stable in size and behavior or disappear during life. Infrequently, melanocytic nevi undergo malignant transformation…
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) account for up to 10,000 deaths annually in the United States. Most of the more than 700,000 SCCs diagnosed are cured by excision with clear…
Somatic mutations in genes of the PI3K/PTEN/AKT/TSC/mTORC1 signaling pathway cause segmental overgrowth, hamartomas, and malignant tumors. Mosaicism for activating mutations in AKT1 or PIK3CA cause Proteus syndrome and PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth…
Cylindromas are cutaneous tumors first described in the medical literature over 150 years ago. They are now known to occur on an inherited basis as a result of mutations in the…
Autoinflammatory disorders are sterile inflammatory conditions characterized by episodes of early-onset fever, rash, and disease-specific patterns of organ inflammation. Gain-of-function mutations in innate danger-sensing pathways, including the inflammasomes and the…
Antimicrobial peptides are central effector molecules in skin immunology. The functions of antimicrobial peptides in skin diseases include the ability to act as cytokines or growth factors, driving disorders such…
DOCK8 deficiency is an autosomal recessive combined immunodeficiency disease associated with elevated IgE, atopy, recurrent sinopulmonary and cutaneous viral infections, and malignancy. The DOCK8 protein is critical for cytoskeletal organization,…
Commensal bacteria live intimately and in constant dialogue with skin immune cells. Regulating our immune response to these bacteria is critical for skin homeostasis. Using a new murine model to…
John J. DiGiovanna, MD, Editor Dermatologists are curious, perhaps because what we see in clinic often challenges our understanding. Several recent scientific advances have yielded breakthroughs that help explain some…
