Dermatology education resources on sun safety and skin cancer targeted at Spanish-speaking patients: a systematic review.

Hispanic adults with skin cancer are known to exhibit worsened outcomes compared to their counterparts. To critically evaluate the literature on methods to educate Spanish-speaking patients on sun safety and skin cancer, we conducted a systematic review of PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register databases from inception through December 18, 2021. Evidence quality was assessed using criteria from the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. A total of 1014 articles were identified and 10 articles  using Spanish language materials for community dermatology education were included for review. Seven studies were interventional: four studies were community-based healthcare worker interventions, and three were video-based interventions. Two studies were patient survey studies on skin-related health literacy and the readability of patient resources. One was an online readability study. Our findings show that there is a need for an increased number of materials to educate Spanish-speaking patients about sun safety and skin cancer.

Novel Therapies for Pemphigus Vulgaris.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a severe chronic autoimmune blistering disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes. It is characterized by suprabasal acantholysis due to disruption of desmosomal connections between keratinocytes. Autoantibodies against desmosomal cadherins, desmoglein 3 and 1, have been shown to induce disease. Certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types and non-HLA foci confer genetic susceptibility. Until the discovery of corticosteroids in the 1950s, PV was 75% fatal. Since then, multiple PV treatments, such as systemic corticosteroids and adjunctive therapy with immunosuppressive medications (mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, methotrexate, gold, and others) have been introduced; however, none have led to long-term remissions and many have undesired adverse effects. Our growing understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanisms in PV is leading to development of new targeted therapies, such as intravenous immunoglobulin, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, inhibitors of Bruton tyrosine kinase and neonatal Fc receptors, and adoptive cellular transfer, that may result in lasting control of this life-threatening disease.