Disorders of Follicular Occlusion: Exploring Pathogenic Mechanisms to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets
Disorders of Follicular Occlusion include the conditions Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS), Dissecting Cellulitis of the Scalp (DCS), Acne Congolobata (AC) and Pilonidal Sinus Disease (PD). All of these disorders are chronic, burdensome diseases with few efficacious therapeutic options. The prevailing pathogenic paradigm in these disorders are follicular occlusion via a variety of endogenous and exogenous mechanisms, resulting in follicular rupture and dermal inflammatory response.
The term ‘disorders of follicular occlusion’ was first coined in 1956 by Pillsbury, Shelley ... Read More
Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease of unclear etiology with the potential affection of major organs. It most commonly affects the lungs, skin, eyes, and lymph nodes. Less frequent, though possibly underestimated, manifestations are rheumatic and renal disease. As a systemic disease, it can present in numerous ways and mimic many other conditions, including infections and cancer. While it has been proposed that an abnormal immunologic response to antigens leads to granulomatous inflammation in genetically predisposed individuals, much has to be learned.
Sarcoidosis can present ... 
Macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate, sulphate and micronutrients such as iron, copper and zinc are essential for various aspects of plant growth and development, but these elements may also be toxic if accumulated in the plant cell in excess. Non-essential elements like cadmium, arsenic, and aluminum are potentially highly toxic; however they are increasingly being emitted into the environment due to anthropogenic activities. Soils often challenge sessile plants with poor availability of essential minerals or elevated concentrations of toxic elements. These challenges are often exace... 
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The vast majority of breast cancers arise from epithelial cells, either in the ducts or lobules, as a consequence of genetic and epigenetic alterations, which lead to aberrant growth control and disruption of intracellular signalling at the tissue level. For these reasons, breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multiple sub-types, with distinct cells of origin and etiology.
The increased expression of estrogen receptors (ER), that occurs at the ea... 
All multicellular organisms must detect injury to mount adequate responses. Plants respond with induced resistance, animals with local immunity and regeneration, and fungi exhibit wound-induced conidiation. Intact cells perceive damage-associated molecular patters (DAMPs) in the extracellular space as 'danger signals' to recognise damage before infection occurs. Molecules such as extracellular ATP and fragments of the cell wall or the extra- or intracellular matrix function as DAMPs in organisms across different kingdoms. All these DAMPs represent fragments of larger molecules or in... 
Neutrophil-mediated skin diseases encompass a wide spectrum of diseases characterized by polymorphic cutaneous manifestations. They are histopathologically hallmarked by sterile neutrophilic infiltrates involving the skin and, more rarely, the internal organs. Neutrophil-mediated skin diseases share clinicopathological features with those of autoinflammatory diseases, which present in patients with recurrent episodes of aseptic inflammation in the affected organs in absence of allergy or frank autoimmunity. In classic autoinflammatory diseases, mutations in genes regulating innate immune re... 
Cutaneous wounds are a largely unrecognized, spiraling epidemic that affects millions of people worldwide. Healing and regeneration of wounds is a complex process that has at its core a functional inflammatory response that initiates the repair process and fights against infective pathogens. Wound inflammation is a tightly regulated process involving neutrophils, macrophages, mast cells, and various leukocytes and tissue restoration mechanisms working in concert to allow healing and tissue restoration following injury. However, in many conditions, dysregulated and/or prolonged inflammation ... 
Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease of unclear etiology with the potential affection of major organs. It most commonly affects the lungs, skin, eyes, and lymph nodes. Less frequent, though possibly underestimated, manifestations are rheumatic and renal disease. As a systemic disease, it can present in numerous ways and mimic many other conditions, including infections and cancer. While it has been proposed that an abnormal immunologic response to antigens leads to granulomatous inflammation in genetically predisposed individuals, much has to be learned.
Sarcoidosis can present ... 
B-cells have multiple pathogenic roles in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). The two most evaluated strategies for B-cell blockade over the last two decades are B-cell depletion and inhibition of B-cell survival factors (BAFF and/or APRIL). Rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody depletes B-cells by targeting CD20, although the depth, duration of depletion and clinical response may vary between patients.
Recent data have supported the efficacy of reduced rituximab dose and the different retreatment strategies in both its licensed indications; rheumatoid arthritis and... 
It is often overseen that the skin or integument is the biggest organ of the human body. Moreover, skin importance spans different fields, from esthetics and social interactions to various diseases and their multiple upshots. Notably, skin and internal organs are bidirectionally related: an organ disease can alter skin structure and function, and vice versa. An example of this mutual relationship is acute or chronic urticaria (hives) with or without angioedema, which affects wide skin areas and is caused by immune reactions to foreign antigens, autoimmunity, malignancy, and so on. The rever... 
Tissues and organs undergo structural and functional declines in the aging process, with a gradual decrease in regenerative ability. The hair follicle is a complex mini-organ that undergoes cyclic self-renewal during postnatal life, as the follicle contains stem cells that can be activated and silenced cyclically. Thus, it serves as an excellent model for studying regeneration. However, follicles gradually lose hairs and stem cells enter quiescence or differentiate into other skin epithelial lineages during aging. This process is largely influenced by intrinsic epigenetic status and extrins... 
Malassezia yeast existS on all humans and have long been associated with healthy and diseased skin. In this Article Collection of Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology; Fungal Pathogenesis, we will present multiple papers outlining the state of the art in understanding the role Malassezia in skin health and disease.
Over the last thirty years, the term “microbiome” has grown exponentially in scientific discourse, generating hundreds of thousands of publications and patents. Although the human-associated microbial community consists of bacteria, fungi, viruse... 
Over the past decades, large numbers of genes and genomic regions involved in human complex diseases have been revealed through linkage analysis, candidate gene study, and genome-wide linkage study. These help to determine the position of the genetic marker inherited with a complex disease.
Since 2005, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been proved to be the most powerful and efficient study design for identifying genetic variants that are associated with complex diseases. More than twenty kinds of skin diseases and traits have been investigated by this approach including... 
Primary cutaneous lymphomas (PCLs) are non-Hodgkin lymphomas that are present only in the skin at the time of diagnosis, and without evidence of extracutaneous manifestations. Among extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas, PCLs are the second most frequently observed type after gastrointestinal lymphomas. PCLs occur at an incidence of 1 per 100,000 persons annually, and about 25% to 30% of all are Cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (CBCLs). CBCLs can be further classified according to clinical behavior as either aggressive or indolent. Indolent CBCLs include primary cutaneous marginal zone lymphoma (PCMZL... 
This Research Topic will be an interdisciplinary collection of papers by philosophers, psychologists and social scientists. The proposed topic is an exploration of the scaffolded or environmentally supported nature of affectivity. Standard approaches in philosophy and psychology characterize affective states (such as specific emotions and moods) as states of a person’s brain and body. This Research Topic will explore the extent to which affective states also importantly depend upon structures and processes in the environment. In particular, it will explore the way in which people acti... 
"The bandage keeps coming off my arm, but it definitely sticks to my fingertip." Some people might have a similar experience. From this phenomenon, we can bring up several interesting questions. Why does the stickiness vary from location to location on the skin? What information is computed from the sticky surface elements and how? What is the relationship between physical and perceptual stickiness? Unfortunately, at the moment, little information is mounted to answer these questions. Previous studies revealed that the tactile sense of stickiness is aroused when the skin is stretc... 
Understanding the microenvironment within skin cancers is key for the development of new preventative and therapeutic treatment options. Research advances in skin cancers such as melanoma have revolutionized immunotherapeutic treatment options, for example through the provision of checkpoint inhibitor trials that have benefitted not just melanoma patients, but also patients with a wide array of other cancers, including less readily accessible cancer types. However, checkpoint inhibitor success is limited in melanoma and unlikely to become the mainstay of treatment for other skin cancer type... 
For many years melanoma was considered a significant challenge by oncologists. In 2011 the story changed because of the approval of ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibody, and vemurafenib, a BRAF inhibitor active on BRAF mutated melanoma. These two revolutionary drugs completely changed the management of metastatic melanoma and, for the first time, became possible to achieve a significative impact on overall survival. To improve the efficacy of ipilimumab and vemurafenib have been designed clinical trials, now ongoing, of combination with other targeted agents (e.g. MEK inhibitors) a... 
Life expectancy is on the rise worldwide. Within the US alone, it is estimated that 20% of the population will be over the age of 65 years by 2030. Normal aging results in a relentless deterioration of both sleep and wakefulness. This includes sleep fragmentation and the inability to sustain wakefulness during the active phase in humans and rodents. Impairments in both behavioral states become more pronounced in many age-dependent neurodegenerative processes. Impaired wakefulness interferes with cognitive function and quality of life for millions of older Americans. Recent data indicates th... 
Skin blistering is commonly caused by mechanical, physical or infectious insults. More rarely, mutations of structural components of the skin or autoimmunity directed against those structural components lead to skin blistering.
Skin blistering is commonly caused by mechanical, physical or infectious insults. More rarely, mutations of structural components of the skin or autoimmunity directed against those structural components lead to skin blistering. Albeit among the less frequent causes of skin blistering, understanding of the pathomechanisms of hereditary and autoimmune skin bl... 
In the current therapy of autoimmune disease, a significant progress has been made in terms of introducing novel, mostly biologic, drugs in place of chemical molecules. These biologic agents enhance or replace conventional immunosuppressive therapies. Their mechanism of action consists in disrupting the inflammatory process. The categories of biologics include inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor, interleukins, T cells, B cells, or JAK. Biologics, or biologic-response modifiers, may be prescribed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including many types of arthritis (e.g., rheumatoid ar... 
As the research in the field of Dermatology has been increasing day-by-day, the clinical investigations and trails are also been advanced. Inflammation caused by the hyper-activation of innate immunity due to genetic factors occasionally leads to inflammatory keratinization diseases of the skin. Such inflammatory keratinization diseases with genetic autoinflammatory pathogeneses are called “autoinflammatory keratinization diseases” (AiKD). AiKD also includes diseases with mixed pathological mechanisms of autoinflammation and autoimmunity.
AiKD have primary genetic caus... 
In the last few decades, autoimmune diseases have become a major clinical burden. The reasons for this are manifold, including (i) increasing incidence; (ii) the lack of therapies that target the underlying cause of the specific disease in question and (iii) the high rate of adverse events due to prolonged, unspecific immunosuppression. The skin is one of the largest organs of the human body and several autoimmune diseases manifest at the skin. These include skin-specific autoimmune diseases and cutaneous manifestations of systemic autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, with the recent success o... 
If "drugs" have been defined as compounds used in the treatment and prevention of diseases, or are intended to affect a physiological function, "cosmetics" have been labelled as substances that clean or enhance the appearance of the skin without therapeutic benefits. There is also a grey area bordering these two fields, for which the term "cosmeceuticals" has been defined. “Cosmeceuticals” are described as hybrids between drugs and cosmetic products which are able to enhance both health and beauty of the skin by external application. Cosmeceuticals,... 
The search for further knowledge on skin functions and mechanisms is at the core of many biomedical and biopharmaceutical research programs today. The extension and complexity of the skin justifies its multiple roles, affecting all physiological processes, far beyond its “barrier” characteristics. More research on skin physiology is needed to better understand various disease mechanisms, and these need not be confined to the skin itself. Skin is also a target for new molecules, supplements, materials and even instruments, with the potential to impact the whole body. Because of i... 
On behalf of the 
Dermatology is a discipline of medical science that deals with the dermal, skin diseases and associated treatment regime. Clinical practices in relation to dermatology embrace several sub disciplines including Dermatitis, Cosmetic dermatology,