Tenascin-C expression in papulosquamous disorders other than psoriasis in pediatric patients: an epiphenomenon?

BACKGROUND

Tenascin-C is a large extracellular matrix protein that is expressed in the basal membrane zone during embryonic development, tissue repair, and oncogenesis. In vitro studies suggest that proliferating epithelium induces the production of tenascin-C by mesenchymal cells.

OBJECTIVE

Our goal was to compare the expression of tenascin-C in psoriasis with other papulosquamous disorders of the skin in pediatric patients.

METHODS

The study was conducted on skin biopsy samples of 37 patients with psoriasis or other papulosquamous disorders. Of the 37 skin biopsy samples, 17 (45.9%) were diagnosed as psoriasis and 20 (54.1%) were diagnosed as other papulosquamous disorders histopathologically, and the expression of tenascin-C was evaluated immunohistochemically.

RESULTS

Tenascin-C expression was seen in the dermis of lesional tissues or epidermal keratinocytes in 1 (5.8%) of the 17 biopsy samples diagnosed as psoriasis and 15 (75.0%) of the 20 biopsy samples diagnosed as other papulosquamous disorders (p  =  .001).

CONCLUSION

Tenascin-C expression was not found to be a staining characteristic of psoriasis lesions. But the significant staining intensity of the tenascin-C expression in other papulosquamous disorders suggests that tenascin-C expression might be an epiphenomenon in the papulosquamous disorders other than psoriasis immunohistochemically.