BACKGROUND Corneal ulceration leading to perforation is associated with infectious and non-infectious destructive conditions in the cornea. The fibrinolytic (plasminogen/plasmin) system is considered to contribute to tissue remodeling in the wound healing process and it is believed to play an important role in proteolysis and fibrosis. To determine the localization of urokinase-type plasminogen...

There is conflicting evidence regarding the significance of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Involvement of the VIP receptor in IBD has not been reported. We examined the expression and localization of the VIP receptor in IBD. We determined the location of VIP receptor 1 (VIPR1) immunohistologically in surgically resected intestinal samples from 10 contro...

BACKGROUND The concept of innate immunity is well recognized within the spectrum of atherosclerosis, which is primarily dictated by macrophages. Although current insights to this process are largely based on murine models, there are fundamental differences in the atherosclerotic microenvironment and associated inflammatory response relative to humans. In this light, we characterized the cellula...

To investigate the association between gene expression of key molecular markers of hypoxia and inflammation in atherosclerotic carotid lesions with 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose ((18)F-FDG) uptake as determined clinically by positron emission tomography (PET). Studies using PET have demonstrated (18)F-FDG-uptake in patients with confirmed plaques of the carotid artery. Inflammatory active o...

BACKGROUND The microenvironment of astrocytomas includes infiltrative inflammatory cells that are dynamic in nature, possibly reflecting tumor biology. We evaluated the inflammatory cell infiltrate in astrocytic tumors aiming for a better understanding of their immunobiology. METHODS Immunohistochemical expression of CD68, CD3, and CD20 was investigated in 21 glioblastomas, 21 anaplastic astr...

AIMS To investigate the staining pattern of neurotrophin-3 (NT3), neurotrophin-4 (NT4), and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as well as glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) and CD68 in lasered human retina. METHODS Retinal laser photocoagulation was performed on four patients (two males, two females) with choroidal malignant melanoma 1-6 days before enucleation. Three other enucleated...

OBJECTIVE Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) consists of neoplastic Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells (HRSC) and a nonneoplastic micromilieu that greatly outnumbers the HRSC. Studies on HRSC-related prognostic biomarkers have been unsuccessful, but the microenvironmental composition is of prognostic importance. Recently, the number of CD68-positive macrophages was correlated with adverse survival i...

We have recently begun to gain a clearer understanding of the phasing and patterns of colonization of the developing human brain by microglia. In this study we investigated the distribution, morphology and phenotype of microglia specifically within the wall of the human telencephalon from 12 to 24 gestational weeks (gw), a period that corresponds to the development of thalamocortical fibres pas...

The aims of this study were to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in patients with familial ovarian cancer. Clinical and pathological information were retrieved from the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (GRFOCR) in Buffalo, NY. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue specimens ...

Macrophages have emerged as a key player in tumor biology. However, their number and phenotype in human bone marrow of biopsy (BMB) samples of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and their association with disease progression from an initial chronic phase (CP) to accelerated phase (AP) to advanced blast phase (BP) are still unclear. BMB samples from 127 CML patients and 30 patients with iron-deficie...