Canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways are involved in cell differentiation and homeostasis, but also in tumorigenesis. In fact, an exaggerated activation of Wnt signaling may promote tumor growth and invasion. We summarize the most intriguing evidence about the role of Wnt signaling in cutaneous carcinogenesis, in particular in the pathogenesis of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Wnt signaling is involved in several ways in the development of skin tumors: it may modulate the inflammatory tumor microenvironment, synergize with Sonic Hedgehog pathway in the onset of basal cell carcinoma, and contribute to the progression from precancerous to malignant lesions and promote the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in squamous cell carcinoma. Targeting Wnt pathways may represent an additional efficient approach in the management of patients with NMSC.

Vitiligo is an autoimmune dermatosis frequently associated with other comorbidities, such as mental health disorders. It is unclear if vitiligo triggers mental disorders or if mental disorders trigger vitiligo, but each one affects and worsen the other, if present at the same time. Both mental health disorders and vitiligo present a multifactorial pathogenesis and often require prolonged periods of therapy, sometimes with poor results. Given the possible link of common pathogenetic factors and the need of integrated therapies, the aim of this review is to look at natural compounds as possible supplements for both conditions. The results yielded show a possible role of these supplements in ameliorating both conditions, thus helping these patients to achieve a better quality of life and reduce the need for prolonged therapies. The limitations regarding the relative lack of in vivo studies, and the increasing need to lighten the burden of these chronic diseases, suggests that it is mandatory to proceed with further trials.

Background and Objectives: Chronic ionizing radiation has biological effects on exposed healthcare workers, particularly on the skin. Capillaroscopy of the nail bed represents an easy, low cost, and non-invasive test to obtain information on the effects of chronic radiation exposure in healthcare workers. The aim of this study was to evaluate which capillaroscopic parameters are most associated with biological damage by chronic radiation exposure. Materials and Methods: We conducted a case-control study, in which cases were represented by healthcare workers exposed to ionizing radiations and controls by healthy subjects. We recorded anamnestic and personal data, including age and gender, before capillaroscopic examination of proximal nail folds of the fingers of both hands. Ten morphological qualitative/quantitative parameters were taken into consideration, assigning each of them a score on a scale from 0 to 3 (0 = no changes, 1 = 66% of abnormal capillaries, for single magnification field at 200×). The parameters evaluated were: changes in the length, distribution and density of capillary loops, reduced visibility, decreased flow, visibility of the sub-papillary plexus, and presence of morphological atypia, such as ectasia, tortuosity, hemorrhage, and signs of neoangiogenesis. Results: We enrolled 20 cases and 20 controls. The two groups did not differ significantly for gender and age. Cases differed from controls in a statistically significant way for the following parameters: decreased capillary length (number of shortened capillaries) (p < 0.05), increased visibility of the subpapillary venous plexus (p < 0.05), tortuosity (p < 0.01), neoangiogenesis (p < 0.01), and ectasias (p < 0.001). Conclusions: We found that some capillaroscopic parameters, such as variability in length of capillaries, visibility of subpapillary venous plexus, presence of ectasias, tortuosity, and neoangiogenesis signs, are particularly associated with exposure to ionizing radiation in healthcare professionals. Alterations of these parameters may represent capillaroscopic clues of biological damage by chronic radiation exposure in healthcare professionals. Based on these observations, capillaroscopy may provide clinical data useful to the prevention and follow-up of radiation-exposed healthcare professionals.

Citation: Di Bartolomeo L, Vaccaro F, Borgia F, Macca L, Portuese S, Vaccaro M. Super-High Magnification Entodermoscopy: The New Era of Dermoscopy in the Field of Skin Parasitoses. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2024;14(1):e2024021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1401a21 Accepted: June 8, 2023; Published: January 2024 Copyright: ©2024 Di Bartolomeo et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited. Funding: None. Competing interests: None. Authorship: All authors have contributed significantly to this publication. Corresponding author: Luca Di Bartolomeo, Viale della Repubblica, 23 – 84047 Capaccio-Paestum, Salerno, Italy; e-mail: lucadibartolomeo@live.it Keywords : entodermoscopy, super-high magnification dermoscopy, scabies, pediculus, pthirus This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.