Clinical Trial Review

each in order to achieve the desired results. Results from this study will help guide a second study looking at longer term use of these medications

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the ability and efficacy of a Polarization Enhanced Reflectance and Fluorescence System (PERFIS) for demarcation of non-melanoma skin cancer margins prior to surgery. PERFIS is a harmless and non-invasive device that has been used to image biological tissue both in vitro and in vivo. In this study it will be used to image non-melanoma skin cancer lesions prior to surgery. The use of PERFIS will not affect patient care or treatment decisions in any way. No extra tissue will be used for imaging.

If tumor margins are clear, and the PERFIS image indicates that collagen distortion lies within the pre-surgical marking of the surgeon, this would indicate that PERFIS could be useful in guiding pre-surgical marking. Alternatively, if tumor margins are positive, and PERFIS images detect collagen distortion in the area of tumor positivity such that the surgeon’s pre-surgical marking would be altered to include more inconspicuous tumors, then the PERFIS analysis will be graded as successful. If tumor margins are clear, and the PERFIS image indicates the presence of collagen distortion beyond the surgeon’s original marking, this would indicate failure of PERFIS to provide utility in guiding pre-surgical marking. Alternatively, if areas of the PERFIS image show distortion in both normal margins and in areas with histologically-proven tumors, then PERFIS will be graded as a failure.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disorder characterized by recurrent viral skin infections. A small subset of patients with AD suffer from disseminated viral infections, eg, eczema herpeticum (ADEH+) after herpes simplex infection (HSV) or eczema vaccinatum after smallpox vaccination. Interferon γ (IFNγ) plays a critical role in the innate and acquired immune responses by activating macrophages, enhancing natural killer cell activation, and promoting T-cell differentiation, as well as regulating B-cell isotype switching to immunoglobulin G2a. Recent studies have demonstrated that IFNγ generation was significantly decreased after stimulation with HSV ex vivo. The purpose of this study is to determine if deficient IFNγ induction leads to susceptibility to HSV infection in ADEH+ patients. The investigators hypothesize that defective IFNγ responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from ADEH+ patients result from aberrant pattern recognition receptors signaling in antigen-presenting cells, resulting in low level production of interleukin-12, an essential cytokine for IFNγ generation. This study will compare results from 40 ADEH+, 40 ADEH-, and 40 non-atopic participants.