title: Concordant overexpression of phosphorylated ATF2 and STAT3 in extramammary Paget's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) play important roles in the pathogenesis of various tumors, but ATF2 expression/activation and the relationship with STAT3 activation have not yet been investigated in extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate potential contributions of ATF2 and STAT3 pathways to the pathogenesis of EMPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin-embedded 45 EMPD specimens (43 primary EMPD and 2 nodal metastases) were subjected to immunohistochemical staining for ATF2, phosphorylated (p)-ATF2 and p-STAT3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  P-ATF2 expression in advanced EMPD, non-invasive EMPD and normal skin (NS) controls were 97.9 +/- 1.8%, 82.0 +/- 23.4% and 45.8 +/- 3.2%, respectively, and p-STAT3 expression in advanced EMPD, non-invasive EMPD and NS were 97.0 +/- 2.9%, 83.2 +/- 23.3% and 50.1 +/- 6.7%, respectively. P-ATF2 and p-STAT3 expressions in EMPD were significantly higher than those in NS, indicating a possible contribution of these pathways to the tumor development. P-ATF2 and p-STAT3 expressions in advanced EMPD were significantly higher than those in non-invasive EMPD, possibly indicating that these pathways might also contribute to the tumor invasion and/or metastasis. We also found an exceptionally high positive correlation between p-ATF2 and p-STAT3 expressions in EMPD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  P-ATF2 and p-STAT3 are concordantly overexpressed in EMPD and their expressions may possibly be associated with the tumor stage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Si-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moroi
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashida
authors.forename: Makiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomoeda
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uenotsuchi
authors.forename: Ya-Ting
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Masutaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furue
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Urabe
mesh_terms: D051698:Activating Transcription Factor 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010145:Paget Disease, Extramammary / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: C497105:ATF2 protein, human; D051698:Activating Transcription Factor 2; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human