Westmead Dermatology
Striving towards disease-free skin
We are delighted to have published our research article entitled “Differential Proteomic Analysis of Actinic Keratosis, Bowen’s Disease and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Label-Free LC-MS/MS” in the Journal of Dermatological Science. In this paper, we report on proteomic investigations of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) actinic keratosis (AK), Bowen’s disease (BD), and cutaneous squamous cell …
On the 2nd of December, we have successfully held our first “Skin effects of systemic anti-cancer therapies” education day at Westmead Hospital. Education is one of the missions of the CTSR (Centre for Translational Skin Research), and were sharing our knowledge regarding the diagnosis and management of skin effects of systemic oncology medications with dermatologists, …
Shelley Hwang has just received a copy of the book Adverse Reactions to Biologics that includes her chapter on the monoclonal antibodies used in Melanoma patients: ipilimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab. Shelley is one of the CTSR experts in the cutaneous effects of checkpoint inhibitors used in patients with cancers.
Naevus lightening is a fascinating phenomenon found in patients on BRAF inhibitors and MEK inhibitors combination therapy (BiMiC) and checkpoint immunotherapy. We have recently published a study unravelling the mystery underlining this phenomenon. We biopsied 7 lightened naevi from metastatic melanoma patients on either BiMiC or checkpoint immunotherapy such as pembrolizumab. Under the microscope, we …
Sequential Windowed Acquisition of All Theoretical Fragment Ion Mass Spectra (SWATH) is one of the premier mass spectrometry acquisition strategies for identification and quantitation of proteins in a complex sample. Unlike other mass spectrometry strategies, SWATH technique allows comprehensive detection and quantitation of virtually every detectable analyte in a sample. Crossmatching these analytes with an …
The main treatment of cancer is still surgery, but, for some cancers, medical treatment offers a important alternative. In Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC), the use of imiquimod for superficial BCC is well stablished and approved in many countries. Recently, in Australia, another molecule, vismodegib, has been approved for the treatment of BCC. In this case, …
Our department feels privileged to have another oncodermatology publication in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology titled: “Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor‐induced papulopustular eruption successfully treated with low‐dose oral dapsone”. Patients on EGFR inhibitors frequently develop cutaneous adverse events including papulopustular eruptions (also known as acneiform eruptions), hair loss and xerosis. This is a paper about …
During the last meeting of the Australasian Society for Dermatology Research, Pablo Fernandez-Peñas presented a review of the influence of cellular and biochemical pathways in understanding diseases. Pablo described how the use of BRAF inhibitors in melanoma created a number of cutaneous effects. Clinical findings and basic research (including original research by our group) helped …
Written by Dr Cathy Zhao The Department of Dermatology at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, is holding our first “Skin Effects of Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies” education day. This is an opportunity for anybody involved in the management of these patients to learn about the diagnosis and management of skin conditions in patients on anti-cancer therapies, including dermatologist, …
Written by Dr Cathy Zhao Last weekend, Dr Rose Liu (research fellow) and I attended the Australasian Dermatopathology Society Annual Meeting in Melbourne. The meeting was an extremely enlightening learning experience, where we learned about the dermatopathology of various skin conditions including lymphoma, skin infection and alopecia. We also learned about newer immunohistochemistry stains. The …
