Expression of bcl-2 and p53 in bovine cutaneous fibropapillomas

BACKGROUND: Bovine cutaneous fibropapillomas are benign hyperproliferative lesions induced by Bovine Papillomaviruses (BPVs). Bcl-2 is an important anti-apoptotic protein which is expressed in several cancer types. In contrary, p53 is a tumour suppressor protein that mediates cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and senescence in response to cellular stresses. FINDINGS: Here, we investigated immunohistochemically and biochemically, the expression of bcl-2 and p53 in a subset of BPV positive fibropapillomas and bovine normal skin. Normal skin samples showed a weak signal for both proteins in the cytoplasm of the basal cells. Nine out of twelve (75%) tumour samples stained positive for bcl-2 throughout basal and parabasal layers, with most of cells showing strong cytoplasmic immunoreactivity. Nine out of twelve (75%) fibropapillomas were found to be positive for p53 expression, showing a strong cytoplasmic and perinuclear staining of p53 protein mainly in the basal and parabasal layers. CONCLUSIONS: Our data reveal an altered bcl-2 and p53 immunoreactivity in bovine cutaneous fibropapillomas, suggesting involvement of these two proteins in the cutaneous neoplastic transformation through an impaired apoptotic process. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1750-9378-10-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.