A comparative study of long interspersed element-1 protein immunoreactivity in cutaneous malignancies

Mohammad Ali Zolfaghari,Amir Nader Emami Razavi,Alireza Korourian,Nafiseh Esmaili,Elham Kalantari,Alireza Ghanadan,Abbas Karimi,Zahra Madjd,Kambiz Kamyab

doi:10.1186/s12885-020-07050-6

Abstract

BackgroundSkin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and commonly classified into malignant melanoma (MM) and Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), which mainly include basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The extent to which Long Interspersed Element-1 (LINE-1, L1) ORF1p is expressed in cutaneous malignancies remains to be evaluated. This study aimed to assess LINE-1 ORF1p immunoreactivity in various skin cancer subtypes.MethodThe expression level of LINE-1 ORF1p was evaluated in 95 skin cancer specimens comprising 36 (37.9%) BCC, 28 (29.5%) SCC, and 31 (32.6%) melanoma using the tissue microarray (TMA) technique. Then the association between expression of LINE-1 encoded protein and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed.ResultsWe showed that LINE-1 ORF1p expression level was substantially higher in BCC and SCC patients compared with melanoma samples (p < 0.001). BCC cases had a higher LINE-1 histochemical score (H-score) compared with SCC cases (p = 0.004). In SCC samples, a lower level of LINE-1 ORF1p expression was associated with age younger than the mean (p = 0.041). At the same time, no significant correlation was found between LINE-1 ORF1p expression and other clinicopathological parameters (all p > 0.05).ConclusionsAccording to our observation, LINE-1 ORF1p immunoreactivity in various skin tumor subtypes extends previous studies of LINE-1 expression in different cancers. LINE-1ORF1p overexpression in NMSCs compared with MM can be considered with caution as a tumor-specific antigen for NMSCs.

Highlights

Skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and commonly classified into malignant melanoma (MM) and Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), which mainly include basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
We showed that LINE-1 Open reading frame 1 protein (ORF1p) expression level was substantially higher in BCC and SCC patients compared with melanoma samples (p < 0.001)
LINE-1ORF1p overexpression in NMSCs compared with MM can be considered with caution as a tumor-specific antigen for NMSCs

Summary

Introduction

Skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and commonly classified into malignant melanoma (MM) and Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), which mainly include basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This study aimed to assess LINE-1 ORF1p immunoreactivity in various skin cancer subtypes. The incidence rate of NMSC is 18–20 times higher than that MM; it constitutes a relatively small percentage of skin cancer deaths [3]. BCC and SCC are rarely fatal, whereas 65–74% of deaths due to cutaneous cancer are caused by malignant melanoma [4]. The high cure rate is associated with BCC and SCC, especially when the lesion is small and diagnosed in early stages [1, 5]. The early-stage melanoma may be hard to detect but is curable, whereas metastatic form has a poor prognosis and low survival rate [6]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion