Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Esophageal suction biopsies were taken in 24 subjects with proven gastroesophageal reflux, 12 subjects with suspected reflux, and 20 healthy controls. Sixty-two percent of the patients with proven reflux, 33% of the patients with suspected reflux, and 10% of the control subjects had neutrophilic and/or eosinophilic granulocytes in the lamina propria. Lymphocytes, plasma cell, and basophilic granulocytes were shown to be constituents of the normal esophageal mucosa. All epithelial dimensions showed marked individual variations in reflux patients and controls. The relative length of stromal papillae as expressed in percent of total epithelial thickness showed a linear correlation with relative basal cell thickness and an indirect linear correlation with epithelial thickness. Elongation of stromal papillae in proven reflux could only be demonstrated by arbitrary retrospective stratification of the data. Hyperplasia of the basal zone and thinning of the epithelium were not observed in the reflux patients. It is concluded that granulocytic infiltrates and not epithelial alterations are the most prominent histological finding in gastroesophageal reflux.
 ...
PMID:Esophageal histology in gastroesophageal reflux. Morphometric findings in suction biopsies. 92 Jul 5

In prostanoid biosynthesis, the first two steps are catalyzed by cyclooxygenases (COX). In mice and humans, deregulated expression of COX-2, but not of COX-1, is characteristic of epithelial tumors, including squamous cell carcinomas of skin. To explore the function of COX-2 in epidermis, a keratin 5 promoter was used to direct COX-2 expression to the basal cells of interfollicular epidermis and the pilosebaceous appendage of transgenic mouse skin. COX-2 overexpression in the expected locations, resulting in increased prostaglandin levels in epidermis and plasma, correlated with a pronounced skin phenotype. Heterozygous transgenic mice exhibited a reduced hair follicle density. Moreover, postnatally hair follicle morphogenesis and thinning of interfollicular dorsal epidermis were delayed. Adult transgenics showed a body-site-dependent sparse coat of greasy hair, the latter caused by sebaceous gland hyperplasia and increased epicutaneous sebum levels. In tail skin, hyperplasia of scale epidermis reflecting an increased number of viable and cornified cell layers was observed. Hyperplasia was a result of a disturbed program of epidermal differentiation rather than an increased proliferation rate, as reflected by the strong suppression of keratin 10, involucrin, and loricrin expression in suprabasal cells. Further pathological signs were loss of cell polarity, mainly of basal keratinocytes, epidermal invaginations into the dermis, and formation of horn perls. Invaginating hyperplastic lobes were surrounded by CD31-positive vessels. These results demonstrate a causal relationship between transgenic COX-2 expression in basal keratinocytes and epidermal hyperplasia as well as dysplastic features at discrete body sites.
 ...
PMID:Abnormal differentiation of epidermis in transgenic mice constitutively expressing cyclooxygenase-2 in skin. 1138 Nov 42