Mucormycosis occurring in an immunocompetent patient: a case report and review of literature.

Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection with a high fatality rate and is the third most common fungal infection that is invasive in nature, next to candidiasis and aspergillosis. The condition is generally vasotropic and angio-invasive in nature. It gets disseminated to a wider area locally and also exhibits a distant spread. It is usually associated with medically compromised patients. However, mucormycosis in immunocompetent individuals is gaining attention as several cases have been reported throughout the world with a high incidence of such cases being reported from the Indian subcontinent. It is attributed to the poor socio-economic status and triggered by the local trauma due to unhygienic setup or poor health care. The pathway of pathogenesis is not clearly understood in immunocompetent patients and therefore becomes a matter of great concern. Here, we report one such case of mucormycosis affecting the maxillary region following tooth extraction in a 42-year-old male.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of gingiva: A rare case report.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) is an exceptional, aggressive variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) because of its unique histological feature and an ominous clinical behavior. Recently, it has been recognized as a high-grade SCC. The most preferential site of occurrence is the upper aerodigestive tract. Because of its aggressive behavior and tendency to metastasize, BSCCs are considered to have poor prognosis. We present a BSCC case in a 60-year-old male, which was clinically diagnosed as an aggressive inflammatory lesion with a differential diagnosis of granulomatous lesion, involving the mandibular anterior gingiva. Till now, only 17 cases of BSCC with gingival involvement have been reported in the literature. Here, we present one additional case of BSCC involving gingiva.

Caspase cascade pathways of apoptosis in oral pemphigus: An immunohistochemical study.

BACKGROUND: Pemphigus is a group of autoimmune blistering diseases characterized by loss of keratinocyte cell adhesion that leads to blister formation clinically. Induction of apoptosis or of proapoptotic proteins by pemphigus immunoglobulin G (IgG) may be part of the mechanism by which IgG induces acantholysis. Some of the current data suggest that activation of proapoptotic proteins such as bax and caspase cysteine proteinases may sensitize cells to the acantholytic effects of pemphigus IgG. Thus, a central role of apoptosis in the mechanisms of blister induction is well recognized. AIMS: This study aims (a) To find which pathway of apoptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of pemphigus and (b) to evaluate the expression of bax and caspase-8 and its key role in pemphigus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 21 samples of oral pemphigus. The presence of apoptosis was evaluated in the sections taken from histopathologically diagnosed oral pemphigus archival blocks using peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: The expression and staining intensity of pro-apoptotic marker bax and apoptotic marker caspase-8 were observed in the various areas with varying intensity in different samples. The result was subjected to statistical analysis. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the present study suggest that the process of apoptosis occurs in PV. Hence, inhibition of apoptosis in the patients could reduce the severity of the lesions, and they could also represent new specific targets for pemphigus treatment.