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Vitiligo, manifested by skin hypopigmentation, is an autoimmune disorder of the skin due to the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes. Nivolumab, which is a programmed cell death–1 receptor inhibitor, is a well-known therapy for melanoma. Nivolumab-induced vitiligo has been described in literature, explained by destruction of non-cancerous melanocytes. This is considered a favorable response, due to a correlated stronger immune response against tumor cells. The average onset of the vitiligo is reported to be 5.2 months after starting the therapy, with a maximum reported onset being 9 months. We present a 52-year-old male patient whose initial vitiligo presentation occurred a year after starting the therapy and has continued for months after concluding Nivolumab therapy.

Myopericytoma is a rare, benign growth characterized by painless lesions with a predilection for the extremities, although they may be found in or on any part of the body. These tumors typically present as a rounded or dome-like non-exophytic lesion and exhibit a benign disease course. Treatment is generally reserved for cosmetic or functional purposes. We present a case of an atypical presentation of an exophytic digital myopericytoma in a 45-year-old female treated with local punch excision.

Although live attenuated vaccines (LAVs) have been effective in the control of flavivirus infections, to date they have been excluded from Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccine trials due to safety concerns. We have previously reported two ZIKV mutants, each of which has a single substitution in either envelope (E) glycosylation or nonstructural (NS) 4B P36 and displays a modest reduction in mouse neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness, respectively. Here, we generated a ZIKV mutant, ZE4B-36, which combines mutations in both E glycosylation and NS4B P36. The ZE4B-36 mutant is stable and attenuated in viral replication. Next-generation sequence analysis showed that the attenuating mutations in the E and NS4B proteins are retained during serial cell culture passages. The mutant exhibits a significant reduction in neuroinvasiveness and neurovirulence and low infectivity in mosquitoes. It induces robust ZIKV-specific memory B cell, antibody, and T cell-mediated immune responses in type I interferon receptor (IFNR) deficient mice. ZIKV-specific T cell immunity remains strong months post-vaccination in wild-type C57BL/6 (B6) mice. Vaccination with ZE4B-36 protects mice from ZIKV-induced diseases and vertical transmission. Our results suggest that combination mutations in E glycosylation and NS4B P36 contribute to a candidate LAV with significantly increased safety but retain strong immunogenicity for prevention and control of ZIKV infection.

The problem of compacting genomes while still performing cellular processes is common to all life forms. The current view for E. coli is a compacted genome with well-organized domains where replication initiates and terminates. Some studies have suggested that these and other regions are sequestered or compartmentalized such that there is little to no interaction between them. In this work, we have exploited the high efficiency and promiscuity of phage Mu transposition to directly measure the in vivo rates of interactions between genomic loci, and have developed new tools for analyzing the proximity of loci across the genome. We observe widespread contacts between all regions of the E. coli chromosome, revealing a dynamic, effectively un-compartmentalized genome. We detect long-range interactions between several genes in different gene families such as dna and rrna, implicating spatial proximity of many distantly co-regulated genes for the first time in a prokaryote. We also see a higher interaction between the two halves of the chromosome during replication, consistent with the deduced proximity and higher mobility of the chromosomal arms as they segregate during replication. Our work advances a new view of genome organization in E. coli.