Chunjun Yang

Background: Bullous pemphigoid (BP), an autoimmune blistering disorder that primarily afflicts the geriatric population, poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, particularly in patients with comorbidities. This retrospective study aimed to identify and validate potential adjunctive tissue biomarkers for BP and explore their association with immune-related mechanisms through integrated bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation. Methods: Transcriptomic data from the GEO dataset were analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were further cross-referenced with immune-related gene signatures. CD74 was selected as a candidate biomarker and its expression was validated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in paraffin-embedded skin tissues from patients with BP, healthy controls (HC), and disease controls, including pemphigus vulgaris (PV), psoriasis (Pso), atopic dermatitis (AD), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Diagnostic performance was evaluated by ROC curve analysis. Single-cell RNA sequencing and immunofluorescence staining were performed to investigate the cellular distribution and immune association of CD74. Results: CD74 was identified as an immune-related DEG associated with CCL13 expression. CD74 expression was increased in BP lesions and exhibited a characteristic linear distribution along the dermoepidermal junction. Quantitative ROC analysis based on CD74 expression area percentage showed moderate diagnostic performance, while the linear staining pattern demonstrated potential value as an adjunctive diagnostic feature. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed predominant CD74 expression in MHC-II-enriched cells, and immunofluorescence confirmed CD74/HLA-DR colocalization. CD74 expression was positively correlated with peripheral blood eosinophil counts, suggesting an association with systemic immune activation in BP. Conclusion: CD74 may represent a promising adjunctive tissue biomarker for BP diagnosis. Its characteristic tissue distribution and association with immune-related features suggest that CD74 may reflect immune alterations within BP lesions. Further validation in larger independent cohorts is required.

Plasma medicine is an emerging interdisciplinary field, yet educational gaps exist for clinical undergraduates. This pilot study evaluated a 6-week electiv

To explore the effect of manual linear array technology (MLAT) of ultra-pulsed CO₂ laser on keloids:a randomized self-control clinical trial 20 patients with 80 keloids in the outpatient department of dermatology at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University were recruited for a randomized self-control study. Some skin lesions were randomly selected as observation lesions by MLAT of ultra-pulsed CO₂ laser, and the other skin lesions with similar size were selected as control lesions by manual fiction technology (MFT) in the same patient. Comparison of the effects between the two treatment methods was performed by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) score between the two methods was analyzed by two sample t-test and paired sample t-test. remarked effective rate in the observation lesions was 82.5% higher than that 57.5% in the control lesions (χ2 = 6.975),which has statistical difference (P= 0.008). The recurrence rate in the observation lesions was 2.5% lower than that 15.0% in the control lesions (χ2 = 5.563), which has statistical difference (P= 0.018). The VSS score of the observation lesions was 2.45± 1.22 lower than that 4.80± 1.68 of the control lesions (t= 7.155) after the treatment, which has statistically significant（P=0.000）. The difference of the VSS score between before and after treatment in observation lesions was 9.70± 2.15 higher than that 7.83± 2.24 in the control lesions (t= 3.818), which has statistically significant (P=0.000). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two methods (χ2 =0.157,P=0.692). MALT is effective in the treatment of keloids, which may be worthy of clinical reference or application.

Introduction There is growing evidence that cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) can boost skin wound healing and inhibit various viruses. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of CAP as an adjunct treatment for herpes zoster (HZ). We hypothesized that CAP was similar to or better than the helium–neon (He–Ne) laser in promoting HZ wound and pain recovery. Methods We recruited 187 patients with acute HZ who received either CAP once per day for at least 2 min per treatment area or He–Ne laser therapy once per day for 20 min per session, in addition to a standard treatment regime. The primary endpoint was the efficacy rate, defined as the percentage of patients in each group whose treated area exhibited drying of blisters in ≥ 50% of the area after the final treatment. Secondary evaluation indicators included treatment duration (in days), onset time of scabbing, scab rate, visual analog scale pain scores, and quality of life scores. Results Efficacy rates after the last treatment were not significantly different between the CAP and He–Ne laser groups (at 3 ± 1 and 10 ± 2 days after the last treatment, respectively, p > 0.05). Treatment duration, scab formation onset time, and complete scab formation time were shorter in the CAP group than in the He–Ne laser group. No severe adverse events or reactions occurred in the CAP group. Conclusion CAP is an effective and safe therapeutic option for HZ. Trial Registration This study has been registered at www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2300069993). A graphical abstract is available for this article. Graphical Abstract

Skin wound healing presents a complex challenge, often compounded by the risk of infection. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) emerged as a novel therapeutic for reducing bacterial load and expediting wound healing. However, its effect on the wound microbiome remained unclear. This study aimed to characterize the microbiome of different types of wounds and determine whether CAP influenced microbial diversity. Twenty-five patients (ten with acute, fifteen with chronic skin wounds) and ten healthy controls were enrolled. CAP was tailored to individual clinical conditions. Skin samples were collected before and after CAP, and microbiota composition was determined by 16 S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Microbial communities differed between acute and chronic groups. CAP could accelerate wound healing. However, it did not change microbial α and β-diversity in acute wounds. In chronic wounds, α-diversity indices, including the chao and ACE, were significantly increased, and a significant clustering was observed in post-CAP group. In addition, CAP led to higher abundance of Staphylococcus, lower levels of Proteobacteria and Pseudomonas in chronic wounds. This study provided novel insights into the impact of CAP on skin wound microbiota. Further research was required to ascertain causality between microbiota and CAP and to develop personalized CAP treatment strategies.

Background: GR1802 is a newly developed, fully humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the interleukin‐4 receptor alpha (IL‐4Rα) subunit, which is a component common to both the IL‐4 and IL‐13 receptor complexes. Objectives: Our objective was to assess the efficacy of GR1802 in adult patients presenting with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis. Methods: In this clinical trial, patients with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis were randomly assigned to receive either 300 mg GR1802, 150 mg GR1802, or a placebo every 2 weeks for 16 weeks. Primary endpoints were the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI‐75) response rates at Week 16. Secondary efficacy outcomes included responders at various evaluation points from baseline to study end: IGA 0/1 with ≥ 2‐point improvement; EASI‐75, EASI‐90, and EASI‐50; and ≥ 3‐ or ≥ 4‐point improvements in weekly average daily PP‐NRS score. Safety was evaluated throughout the study. Results: From August 2022 to February 2023, 120 patients were randomized to receive either GR1802 150 mg ( n = 40), GR1802 300 mg ( n = 40), or placebo ( n = 40), with 107 completing the study. GR1802 demonstrated a higher proportion of patients achieving EASI‐75 at Week 16 compared with the placebo group, and the observed differences in EASI‐75 response rates were 39.1% (GR1802 300 mg vs. placebo, 95% CI 20.0–58.2, p = 0.0002) and 19.4% (GR1802 150 mg vs. placebo, 95% CI −0.8–39.7, p = 0.0740). The GR1802 300 mg group also showed greater efficacy on secondary endpoints compared to the GR1802 150 mg group. Serious adverse events occurred in 10% of placebo patients, 2.5% of the GR1802 150 mg group, and none in the GR1802 300 mg group. Treatment‐emergent AEs occurred in 75.0% of the GR1802 150 mg group, 82.5% of the GR1802 300 mg group, and 85.0% of the placebo group. Conclusions: GR1802 was well tolerated and effective in moderate‐to‐severe AD patients, showing a dose–response trend at 150–300 mg. Trial Registration: Chinese Registry of Clinical Trials: ChiCTR2100051917

Melanoma is a common malignant skin tumor with highly invasive features and a high metastasis rate that can be difficult to treat clinically. Large‑scale resection of primary cutaneous melanoma is often used to avoid postoperative recurrence. For advanced patients, radiotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy are often needed. Low‑temperature plasma has been proved to have significant antitumor effects on a variety of cancer cell lines cultured in vitro. The main limitation of direct low‑temperature plasma treatment is that it has weak penetration ability and can only treat superficial lesions. In recent years, research on low‑temperature plasma‑activated solution has revealed that it also have good antitumor effects and low‑temperature plasma penetration depth problems can be solved by local injection. The present study revealed that low‑temperature plasma‑activated phosphate buffer solution exhibited good antitumor effects and biosafety against melanoma in vitro and in vivo. It demonstrated that low‑temperature plasma‑activated solution has antitumor effects due to its regulation of intracellular redox, destruction of mitochondrial function and DNA damage. In vivo experiments demonstrated that treatment with low‑temperature plasma‑activated solution not only exhibited antitumor effects but also caused no significant damage to hematopoietic function or liver and kidney functions in mice. All these results demonstrated that low‑temperature plasma‑activated solution represent a promising antitumor treatment strategy.

Background: Current treatment options for Malassezia folliculitis (MF) are limited. Recent research has demonstrated the inhibitory effect of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on the growth of Malassezia pachydermatis in vitro, suggesting CAP as a potential therapeutic approach for managing MF. Objectives: The objective of our study is to assess the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of Malassezia yeasts to CAP. Additionally, we aim to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of CAP in treating patients with MF. Methods: We initially studied the antifungal effect of CAP on planktonic and biofilm forms of Malassezia yeasts, using well‐established techniques such as zone of inhibition, transmission electron microscopy, colony count assay and 2,3‐bis(2‐methoxy‐4‐nitro‐5‐sulfophenyl)‐2H‐tetrazolium‐5‐carboxanilide salt assay. Subsequently, a randomized (1:1 ratio), active comparator‐controlled, observer‐blind study was conducted comparing daily CAP therapy versus itraconazole 200 mg/day for 2 weeks in 50 patients with MF. Efficacy outcomes were measured by success rate, negative microscopy rate and changes in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) scores. Safety was assessed by monitoring adverse events (AEs) and local tolerability. Results: In laboratory investigations, CAP time‐dependently inhibited the growth of Malassezia yeasts in both planktonic and biofilm forms. Forty‐nine patients completed the clinical study. At week 2, success was achieved by 40.0% of subjects in the CAP group versus 58.3% in the itraconazole group ( p  = 0.199). The negative direct microscopy rates of follicular samples were 56.0% in the CAP group versus 66.7% in the itraconazole group ( p = 0.444). No significant differences were found in the proportion of subjects achieving DLQI scores of 0/1 ( p = 0.456) or in the GAIS responder rates ( p = 0.588) between the two groups. Three patients in the CAP group and one patient in the itraconazole group reported mild AEs. Conclusion: CAP demonstrated significant antifungal activity against Malassezia yeasts in vitro and exhibited comparable efficacy to itraconazole in treating MF patients. Without the associated adverse effects of oral antifungal drugs, CAP can be considered a promising and safe treatment modality for MF.