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Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Pterygium is a multifaceted pathology that displays apparent conflicting characteristics: benign (e.g., self-limiting and superficial), bad (e.g., proliferative and potentially recurrent) and ugly (e.g., signs of preneoplastic transformation). The natural successive question is: why are we lacking r...

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Autores principales: Van Acker, Sara I., Van den Bogerd, Bert, Haagdorens, Michel, Siozopoulou, Vasiliki, Ní Dhubhghaill, Sorcha, Pintelon, Isabel, Koppen, Carina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8305200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34206333
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10071567
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author Van Acker, Sara I.
Van den Bogerd, Bert
Haagdorens, Michel
Siozopoulou, Vasiliki
Ní Dhubhghaill, Sorcha
Pintelon, Isabel
Koppen, Carina
author_facet Van Acker, Sara I.
Van den Bogerd, Bert
Haagdorens, Michel
Siozopoulou, Vasiliki
Ní Dhubhghaill, Sorcha
Pintelon, Isabel
Koppen, Carina
author_sort Van Acker, Sara I.
collection PubMed
description Pterygium is a multifaceted pathology that displays apparent conflicting characteristics: benign (e.g., self-limiting and superficial), bad (e.g., proliferative and potentially recurrent) and ugly (e.g., signs of preneoplastic transformation). The natural successive question is: why are we lacking reports showing that pterygium lesions become life-threatening through metastasis, especially since pterygium has considerable similarities with UV-related malignancies on the molecular level? In this review, we consider how our pathophysiological understanding of the benign pterygium pathology overlaps with ocular surface squamous neoplasia and skin cancer. The three UV-related disorders share the same initial insult (i.e., UV radiation) and responsive repair mechanisms to the ensuing (in)direct DNA damage. Their downstream apoptotic regulators and other cellular adaptations are remarkably alike. However, a complicating factor in understanding the fine line between the self-limiting nature of pterygium and the malignant transformation in other UV-related diseases is the prominent ambiguity in the pathological evaluation of pterygium biopsies. Features of preneoplastic transformation (i.e., dysplasia) are used to define normal cellular reactions (i.e., atypia and metaplasia) and vice versa. A uniform grading system could help in unraveling the true nature of this ancient disease and potentially help in identifying the earliest intervention point possible regarding the cellular switch that drives a cell’s fate towards cancer.
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spelling pubmed-83052002021-07-25 Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Van Acker, Sara I. Van den Bogerd, Bert Haagdorens, Michel Siozopoulou, Vasiliki Ní Dhubhghaill, Sorcha Pintelon, Isabel Koppen, Carina Cells Review Pterygium is a multifaceted pathology that displays apparent conflicting characteristics: benign (e.g., self-limiting and superficial), bad (e.g., proliferative and potentially recurrent) and ugly (e.g., signs of preneoplastic transformation). The natural successive question is: why are we lacking reports showing that pterygium lesions become life-threatening through metastasis, especially since pterygium has considerable similarities with UV-related malignancies on the molecular level? In this review, we consider how our pathophysiological understanding of the benign pterygium pathology overlaps with ocular surface squamous neoplasia and skin cancer. The three UV-related disorders share the same initial insult (i.e., UV radiation) and responsive repair mechanisms to the ensuing (in)direct DNA damage. Their downstream apoptotic regulators and other cellular adaptations are remarkably alike. However, a complicating factor in understanding the fine line between the self-limiting nature of pterygium and the malignant transformation in other UV-related diseases is the prominent ambiguity in the pathological evaluation of pterygium biopsies. Features of preneoplastic transformation (i.e., dysplasia) are used to define normal cellular reactions (i.e., atypia and metaplasia) and vice versa. A uniform grading system could help in unraveling the true nature of this ancient disease and potentially help in identifying the earliest intervention point possible regarding the cellular switch that drives a cell’s fate towards cancer. MDPI 2021-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8305200/ /pubmed/34206333 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10071567 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Van Acker, Sara I.
Van den Bogerd, Bert
Haagdorens, Michel
Siozopoulou, Vasiliki
Ní Dhubhghaill, Sorcha
Pintelon, Isabel
Koppen, Carina
Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title_full Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title_fullStr Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title_full_unstemmed Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title_short Pterygium—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
title_sort pterygium—the good, the bad, and the ugly
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8305200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34206333
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10071567
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