Law Allison M, Oliveri Cecilia V, Pacheco-Quinto Xavier, Horenstein Marcelo G
Department of Pathology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA.
J Cutan Pathol. 2003 Apr;30(4):232-6. doi: 10.1046/j.0303-6987.2003.054.x.
The prognosis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) correlates with its histological subtype. Actin is a microfilament that contributes to cell motility and invasiveness of cancer cells. Actin has been found to be more prominently expressed in the tumor cells and stroma of the more aggressive BCC subtypes. Here we compare actin expression in purely nodular (N-BCC) versus nodular-infiltrative (NI-BCC) tumors.
We studied seven cases of N-BCC and 13 cases of NI-BCC with immunohistochemistry for alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA) and common muscle actin (CMA) within the tumor cells and stroma. A semiquantitative method was used to determine the degree of actin present in the tumor aggregates (on a scale of 0-4).
Actin was present in the nodular component of 2/7 (28%) purely N-BCC and 11/13 (85%) mixed NI-BCC (p = 0.001). Actin was present in the infiltrative component of 13/13 (100%) NI-BCC. The average SMA score was 0.57 within the N-BCC compared with 1.77 within the nodular component of NI-BCC (p = 0.04); and 2.46 within the infiltrative component of the NI-BCC. The CMA score was 0.57 within the N-BCC, 1.54 within the nodular component of NI-BCC, and 1.92 within the infiltrative component of the NI-BCC. Actin was not found in the stroma of any of the N-BCC, while it was present in 8/13 (62%) of the NI-BCC (p = 0.0009).
Actin expression is more prominent in the nodular component of mixed NI-BCC when compared with purely N-BCC. This suggests that the nodular components of NI-BCC and N-BCC are different, and that actin expression in the nodular component may be associated with potential invasiveness. This finding may be relevant when examining incompletely sampled nodular BCC.
基底细胞癌（BCC）的预后与其组织学亚型相关。肌动蛋白是一种微丝，有助于癌细胞的运动性和侵袭性。已发现肌动蛋白在侵袭性更强的BCC亚型的肿瘤细胞和基质中表达更为显著。在此，我们比较纯结节性（N-BCC）与结节浸润性（NI-BCC）肿瘤中肌动蛋白的表达情况。
我们采用免疫组织化学方法研究了7例N-BCC和13例NI-BCC，检测肿瘤细胞和基质中的α-平滑肌肌动蛋白（SMA）和普通肌动蛋白（CMA）。使用半定量方法确定肿瘤聚集体中肌动蛋白的含量（范围为0-4）。
2/7（28%）的纯N-BCC的结节成分中存在肌动蛋白，11/13（85%）的混合NI-BCC中存在肌动蛋白（p = 0.001）。13/13（100%）的NI-BCC的浸润成分中存在肌动蛋白。N-BCC中SMA的平均评分为0.57，而NI-BCC结节成分中的平均评分为1.77（p = 0.04）；NI-BCC浸润成分中的平均评分为2.46。N-BCC中CMA的评分为0.57，NI-BCC结节成分中的评分为1.54，NI-BCC浸润成分中的评分为1.92。在任何N-BCC的基质中均未发现肌动蛋白，而在8/13（62%）的NI-BCC中存在肌动蛋白（p = 0.0009）。
与纯N-BCC相比，混合NI-BCC的结节成分中肌动蛋白表达更为显著。这表明NI-BCC和N-BCC的结节成分不同，且结节成分中肌动蛋白的表达可能与潜在侵袭性相关。这一发现对于检查采样不完全的结节性BCC可能具有重要意义。
