Psoriasis and the spectrum of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic, inflammatory, organotropic conditions. The epidemiologic coexistence of these diseases is corroborated by findings at the level of disease, biogeography, and intrafamilial and intrapatient coincidence. The identification of shared susceptibility loci and DNA polymorphisms has confirmed this correlation at a genetic level. The pathogenesis of both diseases implicates the innate and adaptive segments of the immune system. Increased permeability of the epidermal barrier in skin and intestine underlies the augmented interaction of allergens and pathogens with inflammatory receptors of immune cells. The immune response between psoriasis and IBD is similar and comprises phagocytic, dendritic, and natural killer cell, along with a milieu of cytokines and antimicrobial peptides that stimulate T-cells. The interplay between dendritic cells and Th17 cells appears to be the core dysregulated immune pathway in all these conditions. The distinct similarities in the pathogenesis are also reflected in the wide overlapping of their therapeutic approaches. Small-molecule pharmacologic immunomodulators have been applied, and more recently, biologic treatments that target proinflammatory interleukins have been introduced or are currently being evaluated. However, the fact that some treatments are quite selective for either skin or gut conditions also highlights their crucial pathophysiologic differences. In the present review, a comprehensive comparison of risk factors, pathogenesis links, and therapeutic strategies for psoriasis and IBD is presented. Specific emphasis is placed on the role of the immune cell species and inflammatory mediators participating in the pathogenesis of these diseases.

Raman spectroscopy has emerged as a promising tool for real-time clinical diagnosis of malignant skin tumors offering a number of potential advantages: it is non-intrusive, it requires no sample preparation, and it features high chemical specificity with minimal water interference. However, in vivo tissue evaluation and accurate histopathological classification remain a challenging task for the successful transition from laboratory prototypes to clinical devices. In the literature, there are numerous reports on the applications of Raman spectroscopy to biomedical research and cancer diagnostics. Nevertheless, cases where real-time, portable instrumentations have been employed for the in vivo evaluation of skin lesions are scarce, despite their advantages in use as medical devices in the clinical setting. This paper reviews the advances in real-time Raman spectroscopy for the in vivo characterization of common skin lesions. The translational momentum of Raman spectroscopy towards the clinical practice is revealed by (i) assembling the technical specifications of portable systems and (ii) analyzing the spectral characteristics of in vivo measurements.

In conclusion, females are probably born with an inherently higher risk to develop BCC; however, also with a much slower increase rate of this risk as a function of age. Notably this observation seems to be not a BCC peculiarity. Because of its high incidence coupled with moderate morbidity and extremely low mortality rates, BCC may serve as a valuable, single-tumor paradigm to reproach the complex mechanisms that underline the interaction of age and sex in the pathogenesis of human malignancies.