..Melanoma and non‑melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) are now the most common types of cancer in white populations. Both tumor entities show an increasing incidence rate worldwide but a stable or decreasing mortality rate. . ..NMSC is the most common cancer in white‑skinned individuals with a...

..After decades of therapeutic frustration, the identification of some fundamental molecular drivers finally set the stage for the development of targeted therapies of metastatic malignant melanoma. With the invention of B‑RAF inhibitors, targeting the mutated and activated B‑RAF molecule in...

..Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) infect squamous epithelia and can induce hyperproliferative lesions. More than 120 different HPV types have been characterized and classified into five different genera. While mucosal high‑risk HPVs have a well‑established causal role in anogenital...

..Viruses are constantly under the peril of complement assault as they are efficiently recognized and neutralized by the complement system. In addition, the complement system is also known to enhance the virus specific B and T cell responses which play critical role in controlling viral...

..It was suggested that vitamin D levels influence cancer development. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a crucial mediator for the cellular effects of vitamin D. In fact It has been hypothesized that polymorphisms in the VDR gene affect cancer risk and the relevance of VDR gene restriction...

..Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the biggest killer in the Western World despite significant advances in understanding its molecular underpinnings. Chronic inflammation, the classical hallmark of atherogenesis is thought to play a key pathogenic role in the development of atherosclerotic...

..The type I interferon (IFN) response is the most potent cellular innate immune response against viral infections. However, several human RNA viruses have evolved strategies to evade or suppress different components and/or steps of the host type I IFN response in order to facilitate their...

..In recent years, it became increasingly clear that vitamin D exerts important pleiotropic effects, besides its well‑known effects on extracellular calcium homeostasis and on bone metabolism. This article gives a comprehensive overview of studies on cardiovascular and all‑cause mortality...

..The solar UV‑B (UVB)/vitamin D/cancer hypothesis was proposed by the brothers Cedric and Frank Garland in 1980. In 2002, the list was increased to 15 types of cancer using data in the 1999 version of the atlas of cancer mortality rates in the United States. Ecological studies of cancer...

..During the last decades, the annual numbers of performed solid organ transplants have continuously increased world‑wide. Solid organ transplant recipients (OTR) have a greater risk to develop malignancies, with skin cancer representing the most common neoplasia. Additionally, OTRs in general...