Effectiveness and safety of polidocanol for the treatment of hemangiomas and vascular malformations: A meta-analysis

Abstract

A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of polidocanol versus other conventional therapies in treating hemangiomas (HMs) and vascular malformations (VMs). Literature search was conducted in the Cochrane, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and WanFang databases until March 5, 2017. A meta-analysis was conducted using Revman 5.3 software. A total of 19 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 1,514 participants met the inclusion criteria. Regarding the effectiveness, statistically significant differences were observed between polidocanol and all the independent treatments (p = .006), but not between polidocanol and pingyangmycin (p = .16). Combination therapy of polidocanol with any other conventional treatments (p = .0001), pingyangmycin (p = .005) or hemoclip (p = .008) elicited a better response compared to treatment with these treatments independently. A meta-analysis on the risk of adverse events (AEs) showed a lower risk for polidocanol versus other treatments, for example, all the conventional treatments used independently (p < .00001) and pingyangmycin (p < .00001). Combination therapy of polidocanol with pingyangmycin also yielded a significantly lower risk of AEs (p < .00001). Polidocanol is at least as effective as other conventional therapies on HMs and VMs (especially venous malformations). The former is much safer. Combining its use with other treatments may produce excellent results. Our study provides strong evidence supporting the use of polidocanol for HMs and VMs.

Comparison of clinical efficacy and safety of thermotherapy versus cryotherapy in treatment of skin warts: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The effect of thermotherapy in the treatment of skin warts in comparison to cryotherapy, as the standard conventional method, has remained uncertain. This study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of thermotherapy and cryotherapy in removing skin warts. This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 52 patients aged 18 years and over with ≤ 10 skin warts. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups to receive cryotherapy (every 2 to 3 weeks up to six sessions if required) or thermotherapy (one session). The patients in both groups were followed every 2 to 3 weeks for the first three months, and then three months after the last treatment session. The clearance rate was 79.2% in the thermotherapy group and 58.3% in the cryotherapy group with no significant difference (p = 0.212). The rate of scarring in the thermotherapy group was 20% (p = .018). A higher clearance rate was achieved in the thermotherapy group. However, this result was not statistically significant. There were some minimal post-treatment complications. Patients needed only one session of thermotherapy. Due to the risk of scarring, we suggest thermotherapy only as a suitable treatment method for palmoplantar warts.

Unconventional use of fractional ablative CO2 laser in facial cutaneous sarcoïdosis

ABCG2-mediated suppression of chlorin e6 accumulation and photodynamic therapy efficiency in glioblastoma cell lines can be reversed by KO143

Publication date: Available online 28 October 2017
Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
Author(s): Sara A. Abdel Gaber, Patricia Müller, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Dirk Hüttenberger, Rainer Wittig, Mahmoud Abdel Kader, Herbert Stepp
BackgroundPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) of malignant brain tumors is a promising adjunct to standard treatment, especially if tumor stem cells thought to be responsible for tumor progression and therapy resistance were also susceptible to this kind of treatment. However, some photosensitizers have been reported to be substrates of ABCG2, one of the membrane transporters mediating resistance to chemotherapy. Here we investigate, whether inhibition of ABCG2 can restore sensitivity to photosensitizer chlorin e6-mediated PDT.MethodsAccumulation of chlorin e6 in wild type U87 and doxycycline-inducible U251 glioblastoma cells with or without induction of ABCG2 expression or ABCG2 inhibition by KO143 was analyzed using flow cytometry. In U251 cells, ABCG2 was inducible by doxycycline after stable transfection with a tet-on expression plasmid. Tumor sphere cultivation under low attachment conditions was used to enrich for cells with stem cell-like properties. PDT was done on monolayer cell cultures by irradiation with laser light at 665nm.ResultsElevated levels of ABCG2 in U87 cells grown as tumor spheres or in U251 cells after ABCG2 induction led to a 6-fold lower accumulation of chlorin e6 and the light dose needed to reduce cell viability by 50% (LD50) was 2.5 to 4-fold higher. Both accumulation and PDT response can be restored by KO143, an efficient non-toxic inhibitor of ABCG2.ConclusionGlioblastoma stem cells might escape phototoxic destruction by ABCG2-mediated reduction of photosensitizer accumulation. Inhibition of ABCG2 during photosensitizer accumulation and irradiation promises to restore full susceptibility of this crucial tumor cell population to photodynamic treatment.

Graphical abstract

Cadmium toxicity and its amelioration by kinetin in tomato seedlings vis-à-vis ascorbate-glutathione cycle

Publication date: Available online 28 October 2017
Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
Author(s): Shikha Singh, Anita Singh, Prabhat Kumar Srivastava, Sheo Mohan Prasad
The supplementation of plant hormones may enhance the tolerance capacity of plants against certain environmental stresses by increasing their physiological functioning and detoxification capacity. To answer the question that whether a phytohormone 'kinetin' (KN, 6-furfuylaminopurine), one of the artificial cytokinins could ameliorate the cadmium induced toxicity in tomato seedlings, the effect of KN was assessed in differentially cadmium (Cd1: 3mgkg⁻¹ sand and Cd2: 9mgkg⁻¹ sand) intoxicated tomato seedlings by estimating the changes in reactive oxygen species (ROS, viz. superoxide radical and H2O2 generation) and probable alteration in photosystem II photochemistry, ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes and their metabolites. Accumulation of Cd in tomato seedlings increased the production of ROS by negatively impacting PS II photochemistry (decrease in Fv/Fm (ϕP0), Ψ0, ϕE0 and PIABS and increase in energy fluxes per reaction centre: ABS/RC, ET0/RC, TR0/RC and DI0/RC) manifested by lowered fresh mass despite the accelerated activity of AsA-GSH cycle enzymes (viz. ascorbate peroxidase, APX; GR, glutathione reductase; dehydroascorbate reductase, DHAR and monodehydroascorbate reductase; MDHAR). Simultaneous application of kinetin (10μM) alleviated the negative effects on the fresh mass and lowered the ROS level by positively affecting PS II photochemistry and further rise in AsA-GSH cycle enzymes and their metabolites.

Erupción livedoide en las mamas

Publication date: Available online 28 October 2017
Source:Piel
Author(s): Marta Mendieta-Eckert