In Vitro Human Skin Penetration, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Ethanol-Water Extract of Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium L.).

Epilobium angustifolium L. is applied as an antiseptic agent in the treatment of skin diseases. However, there is a lack of information on human skin penetration of active ingredients with antioxidative potential. It seems crucial because bacterial infections of skin and subcutaneous tissue are common and partly depend on oxidative stress. Therefore, we evaluated in vitro human skin penetration of fireweed ethanol-water extracts (FEEs) by determining antioxidant activity of these extracts before and after penetration study using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and Folin-Ciocalteu methods. Microbiological tests of extracts were done. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-UV) methods. The in vitro human skin penetration using the Franz diffusion chamber was assessed. The high antioxidant activity of FEEs was found. Gallic acid (GA), chlorogenic acid (ChA), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-DHB), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB), and caffeic acid (CA) were identified in the extracts. The antibacterial activities were found against Serratia lutea, S. marcescens, Bacillus subtilis, B. pseudomycoides, and B. thuringiensis and next Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and P. fluorescens strains. In vitro penetration studies showed the penetration of some phenolic acids and their accumulation in the skin. Our results confirm the importance of skin penetration studies to guarantee the efficacy of formulations containing E. angustifolium extracts.

Psoriasis vulgaris and familial cancer risk- a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Follow-up studies of psoriasis patients indicate an increased risk in the occurrence of malignancies at different sites of origin. Population stratification and/or complicated interpretation of evidence on the risk of cancer (due to the small number of patients included in most series) lead to inconsistent data. Herein we investigated the risk of occurrence of malignancies at different sites of origin in a series of 517 psoriasis patients and their 1st degree relatives. METHODS: We evaluated the tumour spectrum as well as the age of the patient at diagnosis of cancers in psoriasis families along with the observed and expected frequencies of malignancies. The distribution of 17 common mutations/polymorphisms in 10 known cancer susceptibility genes among psoriasis patients and 517 matched healthy controls were examined. No such study has been published to date. RESULTS: The statistical comparison of the observed and expected frequencies of cancers revealed a higher than expected occurrence of Hodgkin's lymphoma among males in psoriasis families when compared to the general population (OR=1.8, 95%CI 1.6-2.1, p=0.002). There was a non-significant tendency towards a younger age of onset and overrepresentation of laryngeal cancer and leukaemia in psoriasis families. We found no major differences in the distribution of cancer susceptibility mutations among our cases and the healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggest an increased risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma for male members of psoriasis families. Further studies are needed to confirm the findings and to evaluate whether or not the application of cancer surveillance protocols for Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukaemia and laryngeal cancer are justified in these families.