title: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, a possible culprit in mycosis fungoides: an immunohistochemical study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It still remains debatable whether peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is pro- or antineoplastic, and its exact role in mycosis fungoides (MF) remains unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This prospective comparative study aimed to investigate the expression of PPARγ in MF and compare it with psoriatics and controls in a trial to deduce its possible role in MF. Also, we tried to clarify the relation between PPARγ and Bcl-2 in MF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty MF patients, 20 psoriatic patients and 20 controls were included. All participants underwent a skin biopsy, and immunohistochemical staining for both PPARγ and Bcl-2 were performed. Western blot analysis was performed for detection of both PPARγ and Bcl-2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean area per cent of PPARγ measured in the MF patients (57.1217±9.502417) was significantly higher (P<0.001) when compared with that of both the psoriatics (2.989±1.723) and controls (35.9357±8.1789). The mean area per cent of Bcl-2 in MF patients (9.3763±6.6328) was significantly higher (P<0.001) than that of both the psoriatics (2.35±1.35) and the controls (0.73105±0.5302)]. Our results were confirmed using the western blot analysis. We detected a highly significant positive correlation between the PPARγ and Bcl-2 mean area per cents in all patients. In our MF patients, both parameters were also positively correlated with the age of the patient, duration and stage of MF (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest a possible role for PPARγ in the pathogenesis of MF possibly through several mechanisms, one of which might be conferring upon the lymphoma cells, a survival advantage at least partially through up regulating Bcl-2.
authors: Department of Dermatology, Kasr AlAini Hospital, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Youssef
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Hegazy
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Fawzy
authors: D M
authors: DM
authors: Abdel Halim
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Nabil
authors: S S
authors: SS
authors: Sayed
authors: O G
authors: OG
authors: Shaker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D047495:PPAR gamma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D047495:PPAR gamma; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2