Syndecan-1 expression in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and its significance

Abstract

Objective To measure serum and tissue levels of soluble syndecan-1 (SDC1) in patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) , and to explore the relationship between the expression of SDC1 and clinicopathologic features of CSCC as well as between the serum and tissue levels of SDC1. Methods An immunohistochemical study was performed to measure SDC1 expression in the epidermis of lesional specimens from 93 patients with CSCC and normal skin specimens from 30 healthy human controls, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect serum levels of soluble SDC1 in 81 patients with CSCC and 30 healthy human controls. Results The expression of SDC1 was significantly lower in CSCC tissues than in normal skin tissues (Z = 3.85, P 0.05) . CSCC patients with lymphatic metastasis showed significantly higher serum levels of SDC1 compared with those without (Z = 5.30, P < 0.01) . The serum levels of soluble SDC1 were significantly negatively correlated with its tissue levels in CSCC patients (rs =-0.625, P < 0.01) . Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the best cutoff point of serum SDC1 levels was 65.5 μg/L for the diagnosis of lymphatic metastasis, with the sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC) being 73.7% , 87.1% and 0.904 (0.840-0.968) respectively. Conclusion The down-regulated tissue expression but up-regulated serum levels of SDC1 may be associated with the invasiveness of CSCC, and elevated serum SDC1 levels are somewhat valuable to the diagnosis of lymphatic metastasis. Key words: Carcinoma, squamous cell; Skin; Serum; Pathology; Syndecan-1