Discordant expression of desmoglein 2 and 3 at the mRNA and protein levels in nodular and superficial basal cell carcinoma revealed by immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization. (July 2014) - Pietkiewicz, P.
Summary Background Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common human cancer. It is thought that skewed expression of desmogleins (Dsgs) in BCC may promote tumourigenesis. Aim To comparatively examine expression of Dsg2/Dsg3, using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in BCC subtypes. Methods In total, 84 frozen sections from patients with various clinical or histological subtypes of BCC were analyzed. Expressions of Dsg2/Dsg3 protein and Dsg2/Dsg3 mRNA were evaluated using IHC and FISH, respectively, in BCC nests and BCC‐free epidermis, and then quantitatively measured. Results There was loss of correlation between Dsg2 and Dsg3 (IHC) in nodular and superficial BCC (nBCC, sBCC), and significant correlation between Dsg2 and Dsg3 (FISH) in BCC, but not nBCC and sBCC. Conclusions Because more prominent aberrations of Dsg2/Dsg3 expression were seen at the protein than at the mRNA level in BCC, these comparative observations indicate greater importance of events at the proteome level than those at the genome level in tumour functional compartments. Different Dsg2/Dsg3 expression in sBCC and nBCC might corroborate the possibility that sBCC and nBCC are separate conditions. These results may contribute to better understanding of the biological behaviour of BCC.