Expression of minichromosome maintenance 2 protein in normal skin as well as lesions of malignant hyperplasia and non-malignant hyperplasia / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the expression intensity and distribution of minichromosome mainte-nance 2 protein (MCM-2) in normal skin and lesions of malignant and non-malignant hyperplasia. Methods Three groups of samples were collected, I.e., malignant group (including 15 cases of Bowen disease or highly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of Grade Ⅰ or Ⅱ ), non-malignant group (including 4 cases of chro-momycosis, 2 cases of sporotrichosis, 5 cases of seborrheic keratosis, 4 cases of verruca vuigaris, 4 cases of chronic eczema, 4 cases of cutaneous fibroma), and normal group (10 cases of normal human control). The distribution and intensity of MCM-2 expression in the epidermis of these samples were assessed by immuno-histochemical SP method. Results The expression of MCM-2 was observed in basal and superbasal layer of epidermis in lesions of malignant and non-malignant hyperplasia, and only in epidermal basal layer in normal skin. A significant increment was observed in the density of MCM-2 positive cells in superbasal layer in malignant lesion compared with the non-malignant lesion. The epidermal expression level of MCM-2 in the non-malignant lesion was significantly lower than that in the malignant lesion, but higher than that in the normal skin (μ = -2.529, -3.705, respectively, both P < 0.05); the same was true for the proportion of MCM-2-postive basal cells. Conclusions The expression of MCM-2 protein varies with the proliferation status of epidermal cells, and may serve as an objective marker for epidermal cell proliferation.