Fibroblast Growth Factor 4(FGF4) Expression in Malignant Skin Cancers.

Cho, Moon Kyun; Song, Woo Jin; Kim, Chul Han

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2011;38(3):217-221.
Published online May 1, 2011.

Fibroblast Growth Factor 4(FGF4) Expression in Malignant Skin Cancers.

Moon Kyun Cho, Woo Jin Song, Chul Han Kim

¹Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea. kchann@hanmail.net

Abstract

PURPOSE
FGF4(fibroblast growth factor 4) is a newly characterized gene which was found to be a transforming gene in several cancerous cells. FGF4 expression and amplification has been subsequently observed in several human cancers including stomach cancer, breast cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, lung cancer and bladder cancer. This study was designed to measure the protein expression of FGF4 in malignant skin cancers. METHODS: We examined 8 normal skin tissues and 24 malignant skin tumor tissues which were 8 malignant melanomas, 8 squamous cell carcinomas and 8 basal cell carcinomas. The specimens were analyzed for the protein expression of FGF4 using immunohistochemical staining. To evaluate the amount of expression of FGF4, the histochemical score(HSCORE) was used.
RESULTS
FGF4 was expressed more intensely in malignant melanoma, followed by SCC and BCC in immunohistochemistry. The average HSCORE was 0.01 for normal skin, 2.02 for malignant melanoma, 1.28 for squamous cell carcinoma , and 0.27 for basal cell carcinoma, respectively. The expression of FGF4 in malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma was increased in comparison with normal tissues and basal cell cancer, and the difference was statistically significant(p<0.05). The difference between malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
These findings provide evidences that the expression of FGF4 plays an important role in malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma progressions. This article demonstrates expression of FGF4 in human skin malignant tumors, and suggests that FGF4 is more expressed in highly aggressive skin tumors.

Keywords: FGF4; Skin cancer