Maspin Expression in Epithelial Skin Tumours: An Immunohistochemical Study

BACKGROUND: Maspin is a member of the serpin family of protease inhibitors and is thought to inhibit carcinoma invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and induce apoptosis. AIM: The aim of this work is to investigate maspin expression in cutaneous basal and squamous cell carcinomas by means of immunohistochemistry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was carried out on 43 patients, 25 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and 18 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) together with ten apparently healthy volunteers as a control group. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the malignant and control groups regarding maspin expression since all control cases showed maspin expression compared to 60.5% (26/43) positivity in malignant cases. Maspin positive expression tended to be of higher percentage in SCC (77.8%) compared to BCC (48%) (P = 0.06) and the strong intensity of maspin was also significantly in favour of SCC compared to BCC (P = 0.02). The staining of both the cytoplasm and nuclei was seen in 27.7% of SCC and 12% of BCC and was significantly in favour of older age group (P = 0.02) and the adenoid variant (P = 0.04) of the latter. CONCLUSIONS: Maspin is associated with terminal squamous differentiation. Nuclear staining of maspin is seen in both BCC and SCC with a suggested tumour suppressor role in BCC.