Comparison between the Expression of High Molecular Weight Cytokeratin (HMWCK) in Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Skin

Abstract

This is a hospital based descriptive retrospective study conducted in Omdurman Teaching Hospital during the period from January2015to July 2016.The study aimed to investigate the comparison between the expression of high molecular weight cytokeratin (HMWCK) in basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of skin. A total of 38 formalin fixed paraffin blocks previously diagnosed as skin cancer were selected for this study. Sections of three microns were cut and stained using immunohistochemical method (biogenex indirect technique) for HMWCK detection. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS computer program version 11.5. The patient ages ranged between 4-93 years with mean age of 55 years, most of them above 50 years.Most of the patients were males. Out of thirty-eight samples with skin cancer, histopathological diagnosis revealed that 27(71.1%) samples were squamous cell carcinoma and the remaining 11(28.9%) samples were basal cell carcinoma. Positive expression of HMWCK was found in 20(52.6%) samples of squamous cell carcinoma and in 8(21.1%) samples of basal cell carcinoma with insignificant relation between HMWCK expression and types of cancer (P. value 0.932). The study concluded that HMWCK expression cannot differentiate between squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma of skin.