Expression Profile of Bcl-2 in Malignant Skin Tumors

Skin is the largest organ in the body and is most commonly affected by neoplasms. In the United States only, approximately 1.2 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer and 80,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed annually. A large number of families of genes that regulate apoptosis have been identified in both normal and malignant cells. There is loss of bcl-2 protein expression with increasing tumor progression. The present study was undertaken to determine the presence and possible role of bcl-2 in primary cutaneous malignancies using immunohistochemical technique and was carried in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Srinagar. Fifty surgical specimens were obtained from the surgical pathology files of Department of Pathology. Imnunohistochemical study was performed. Out of the fifty cases included in the present study, only twenty one cases (42.00%) were positive for bcl-2 oncoprotein while as twenty nine cases (58%)-exhibited negativity. Basal cell carcinomas constituted 38.10% of the total positive cases, followed by Malignant Melanoma (28.57%) where as Keratoacanthomas accounted for only 4.76% positive cases. Squamous cell carcinoma and Bowen's disease constituted 14.28% each to the positive cases.