Figures
Figure 1
Clinical response of actinic keratoses after treatment with PDT and IMI. A ) The number of AK lesions before, during, and after treatment with PDT and IMI in the individual patients in the treatment area is shown; the lesions were investigated before treatment (initial) and one, three, six, and 12 months after the start of therapy. The evaluation was possible in nine out of 10 patients, as Patient 7 dropped out of the study. B ) Cumulative values of the number of AK lesions before, during, and after treatment with PDT and IMI. Error bars represent one SD calculated from data from eight out of 10 patients for each set of values (Patient 7 dropped out of the study after the treatment period and Patient 10 was not present at three months after therapy but was clinically evaluated thereafter) (ns: not significant; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001). A significant decrease in AKs was observed for both treatment modalities at all time points; 12 months after the completion of the treatment period, no increase or a slight or marginally significant increase in the number of AKs was observed in both treatment areas.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Histological grading of actinic keratoses in response to treatment with PDT (A) and IMI (B) . The grades of the target lesions were analysed before treatment, two weeks after the start of treatment (during therapy), and three months after the end of treatment (after therapy). Error bars represent one SD calculated from data from eight patients for each set of values (ns: not significant; *p < 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 3
Fluorescence intensity of AK lesions during the course of PDT and IMI treatment. Representative images of one patient (Patient 4) are shown. The PDD shows a reduction of the fluorescence at three and 12 months after the completion of the study (the right frontal side was treated with PDT and the left frontal side with imiquimod cream). The dotted circles indicate the biopsy areas.
Figure 3
Figure 4
mRNA expression of PI3 , CCL27 and CFH in AK lesions before, during, and after therapy. mRNA from AK lesions was prepared and analysed for gene expression before treatment, two weeks after the start (during therapy), and three months after the end of treatment (after therapy) with PDT (A , C , E ) and IMI (B , D , F ). Of all the putative biomarkers tested in this study, only PI3 (A , B ), CCL27 (C , D ), and CFH (E , F ) showed significant changes in mRNA expression during and after therapy. A value above 1 indicates increased expression and a value below 1 indicates reduced expression, compared to normal skin. The significance over all groups was calculated. Error bars represent one SD calculated from data from eight patients for each set of values (ns: not significant; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01).
Figure 4
Tables
Authors
1 Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna,
2 Skin & Endothelial research division SERD, Department of Dermatology, University of Vienna,
3 Department of Dermatology, Federal Hospital of Wiener Neustadt,
4 Department of Dermatology, Research Division of Biology and Pathobiology of the Skin, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
a These authors contributed equally
Background
Molecular profiling of tissue samples in organ transplant recipients (OTRs) may allow early and minimally invasive identification of actinic keratosis (AK).