Expression of programmed cell death protein 4 in nonmelanoma skin cancer compared with psoriasis and normal skin, a preliminary study

Background tumors expressing programmed cell death protein 4 (pdcd4) are associated with a better prognosis. limited work has been carried out on pdcd4 expression in nonmelanoma skin cancer. objective to study the expression of pdcd4 in basal cell carcinoma (bcc) and squamous cell carcinoma (scc) in comparison with psoriasis and normal skin. patients and methods using immunohistochemistry, the expression of pdcd4 was studied in nine bcc, five scc, ten psoriasis, and six normal skin biopsies. results all bcc specimens showed negative pdcd4 expression, with focal nuclear positivity detected only in three cases.well-differentiated areas of scc showed positive (mainly cytoplasmic) staining of pdcd4, whereas undifferentiated areas were negative. in psoriasis, suprabasal pdcd4 cytoplasmic positivity was detected in eight cases. all normal skin biopsies showed suprabasal nuclear staining of pdcd4. limitation small number of cases in each group. conclusion this study preliminarily supports a potential role of pdcd4 in the suppression of nonmelanoma skin cancer.