Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Pathomorphology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Clin Exp Dermatol. 2020 Mar;45(2):165-171. doi: 10.1111/ced.14048. Epub 2019 Aug 27.
The molecular pathogenesis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is still not precisely described and is the subject of ongoing studies. The role of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) in human epithelial carcinogenesis has been poorly investigated, but in the era of studies on inhibitors targeting STAT proteins this topic seems worth exploring. Increased expression of STAT3 in human nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) has been confirmed in a few studies, but to our knowledge, expression of STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6 in BCC has not been previously evaluated.
To measure expression of STAT3, STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6 expression in different histopathological subtypes of human BCC and its correlation with selected clinical variables.
Immunohistochemistry was used to assess 60 BCC tumour specimens [20 superficial (s)BCCs, 20 nodular (n)BCCs and 20 infiltrative (i)BCCs] and to compare with specimens of healthy skin. There was no significant difference in age or sex between the three groups of patients with BCC. As many tumours showed heterogeneity of staining, the H-score system was applied to calculate the intensity of immunoexpression.
Expression of STAT3, STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6 was observed in all histopathological subtypes of BCC, and was stronger than the expression within the adjacent epidermis and also stronger than the expression within the epidermis in the healthy control group. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in mean H-scores calculated for sBCCs, nBCCs and iBCCs. There were no statistically significant associations between STAT3, STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6 expression and patient sex/age, and tumour size/site.
Our results confirm a possible role of STATs in the pathogenesis of BCC and should encourage future investigations on the possible therapeutic implications of this finding.
基底细胞癌（BCC）的分子发病机制仍未被精确描述，这是目前正在进行的研究课题。信号转导子和转录激活子（STATs）在人类上皮细胞癌变中的作用尚未得到充分研究，但在针对 STAT 蛋白的抑制剂研究时代，这个课题似乎值得探索。几项研究已经证实，STAT3 在人类非黑色素瘤皮肤癌（NMSC）中的表达增加，但据我们所知，STAT5A、STAT5B 和 STAT6 在 BCC 中的表达尚未被评估过。
测量不同组织病理学亚型的人类 BCC 中 STAT3、STAT5A、STAT5B 和 STAT6 的表达，并评估其与选定临床变量的相关性。
使用免疫组织化学方法评估了 60 例 BCC 肿瘤标本[20 例浅表（s）BCC、20 例结节（n）BCC 和 20 例浸润（i）BCC]，并与健康皮肤标本进行比较。三组 BCC 患者在年龄和性别方面无显著差异。由于许多肿瘤存在染色异质性，因此应用 H 评分系统来计算免疫表达强度。
在所有 BCC 的组织病理学亚型中均观察到 STAT3、STAT5A、STAT5B 和 STAT6 的表达，其表达强度均强于相邻表皮的表达，也强于健康对照组表皮的表达。统计分析显示，计算的 sBCC、nBCC 和 iBCC 的平均 H 评分之间无显著差异。STAT3、STAT5A、STAT5B 和 STAT6 的表达与患者性别/年龄以及肿瘤大小/部位之间无统计学显著关联。
我们的研究结果证实了 STATs 在 BCC 发病机制中的可能作用，应鼓励进一步研究这一发现的可能治疗意义。
