Korean J Dermatol.  2001 Jan;39(1):28-38.

Alterations of Cell Cycle Regulation and Apoptosis Related Factors in Skin Tumors

• Yang TH
• Chang SH
• Yoon TY

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Tumor growth and progression is dependent on a variety of factors including; increased cell survival, i. e. resistance to undergo apoptosis, increased proliferation, and the inability to undergo growth arrest or differentiation. The cyclins are a growing group of proteins that form the regulatory subunits in complexes with a specific catalytic protein kinase(cyclin-dependent kinase(CDK)) partner. Tumor suppressor gene such as Rb, p53 and cell cycle regulatory proteins such as p16, p27, WAF1(p21, or Cip 1) also act as a regulator of cyclin and CDK. Apoptosis regulatory proteins such as bcl-2, bcl-x act as a blocking protein of apoptosis and Ki-67 is frequently used as a marker for cell proliferation.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the alterations of cell cycle regulation and apoptosis in skin tumors.
METHODS
We compared expressions for cyclin A, cyclin E, WAF1, Ki-67, p53, p27, Rb, bcl-2 and bcl-x in paraffin embedded samples from 5 normal adult skin tissues, 10 basal cell epithelioma, 10 squamous cell carcinoma, 10 Bowen's disease, 5 keratoacanthoma and 5 solar keratosis by immunohistochemical staining method.
RESULTS
The stainings of the tumors showed some differences from normal tissues in expression of antigens according to the differentiation state and nature of tumors.
CONCLUSION
These results support an important role for cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory proteins in the regulation of growth and differentiation of malignant keratinocyte in these cutaneous neoplasms. Aberrant expression of such proteins may participate in the multistep process of carcinogenesis.

Keyword

Skin tumor; Cell cycle regulation; Apoptosis

MeSH Terms

Adult
Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
Apoptosis*
Bowen's Disease
Carcinogenesis
Carcinoma, Basal Cell
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell
Cell Cycle Proteins
Cell Cycle*
Cell Proliferation
Cell Survival
Cyclin A
Cyclin E
Cyclins
Genes, Tumor Suppressor
Humans
Keratinocytes
Keratoacanthoma
Keratosis
Paraffin
Skin*
Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
Cell Cycle Proteins
Cyclin A
Cyclin E
Cyclins
Paraffin