title: Elemental changes in skin from patients with basal cell carcinoma.
abstract: Intracellular ionic shifts have been described in connection with normal and abnormal cell proliferation. This study was conducted to determine the elemental composition of a cell tumor classified as basal cell carcinoma in skin. The biopsies were taken from 10 patients. Control biopsies were taken from the non-affected skin from the same patients. Cryosections were cut and attached to carbon specimen holders. After freeze drying the sections were analyzed by X-ray microanalysis in a scanning microscope. The X-ray microanalytical results showed that the content of magnesium, phosphorus and potassium was significantly higher in the cancer cells than in the control cells (p < 0.05). The content of sodium, chlorine, calcium and sulfur was similar in both affected and unaffected cells. We conclude from these data that basal cell carcinoma has a characteristic elemental composition. It is possible that increased potassium and magnesium levels have a stimulatory effect on this tumor type, in contrast to other types of cancer cells where elevated sodium and chlorine and lowered potassium levels have frequently been found.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Department of Dermatology, Söder Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wallberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alsterborg
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Roomans
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wróblewski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D004577:Electron Probe Microanalysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008875:Middle Aged