Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between cell apoptosis and mRNA expression of c-fos and BNIPl in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Methods Cell apoptosis and mRNA expression of c-fos and BNIP1 in 48 SCCs and 41 BCCs were determined by TUNEL and in situ hybridization, respectively. Results Apoptosis index (AI) and c-fos mRNA expression in SCCs were higher than those in BCCs (P<0.01), but BNIPl mRNA expression did not differ between them (P>0.05). AI was significantly higher in well-differentiated SCCs than in poorly differentiated SCCs (P<0.05), which was contrary to the expression of c-fos. Significant positive correlation was found between AI and expression of c-fos and BNIPl (P<0.05) in SCCs. Conclusions The increase of AI in SCCs is related to cfos overexpression. BNIPl is likely to induce the apoptosis in SCC and BCC.

Key words: Carcinoma, squamous cell, Carcinoma, basal cell, Apoptosis, Proto-oncogene proteins cfos, BNIPl