E-cadherin, fibronectin and Slug immunoexpression in non-melanoma skin cancers

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an essential biological process involved in the initiation and progression of cancer by which epithelial tumor cells lose their differentiated characteristics, such as cell–cell adhesion and apical–basal polarity and acquire a more invasive and/or metastatic mesenchymal phenotype. The present study investigated the expression of immunomarkers with a role in EMT of non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), such as E-cadherin, fibronectin and Slug, for a number of 50 NMSCs, represented by 30 cases of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and 20 cases of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). For BCC, the statistical analysis of the investigated immunomarkers indicated significantly differences in relation to the depth of invasion, and for E-cadherin and fibronectin with the degree of risk. In the case of SCC, the statistical analysis indicated significant differences of E-cadherin and Slug with the degree of tumor differentiation, and for fibronectin and Slug with the depth of invasion. The analysis of the distribution for the percentage values of the investigated immunomarkers in the case of BCC indicated a significant negative linear relation between E-cadherin/fibronectin and E-cadherin/Slug, and in SCC a significant negative linear relation between E-cadherin/fibronectin, E-cadherin/Slug and a positive linear one in the case of fibronectin/Slug. The study indicates through the statistically significant relation between E-cadherin/fibronectin and E-cadherin/Slug, the EMT intervention in carcinogenesis of NMSC.