Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship of fascin-1 protein expression with the metastasis of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Skin specimens were obtained from 10 normal human controls, 13 patients with basal cell carcinoma （8 nodular variant and 5 superficial variant） and 24 patients with SCC （11 SCC in situ and 13 invasive SCC）. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to analyze the expression of fascin-1 protein. The staining results were quantitatively assessed with computer image analysis system （Image-pro Plus 6.0）. Results The optical density of fascin-1 averaged 0.1152 ± 0.04574 in SCC in situ, 0.1257 ± 0.03096 in invasive SCC, and 0.0293 ± 0.00981 in normal controls; the expression of fascin-1 was significantly higher in SCC tissue than in normal control skin （both P < 0.05）. Increased optical density was also observed for fascin-1 in nodular variant of SCC （0.0808 ± 0.05642） and superficial variant of SCC （0.0806 ± 0.04346） compared with the normal controls, whereas no statistical difference was observed between nodular and superficial variant of SCC. Conclusion In BCC and SCC, there is an over expression of fascin-1, which may be linked to the local invasion of carcinoma.

Key words: fascin-1;skin neoplasia;invation;immunohistochemistry;image analysis