Expression of p53 and p16 in actinic keratosis, bowenoid actinic keratosis and Bowen's disease.
BACKGROUND
Bowen's disease (BD) and bowenoid actinic keratosis (bAK) have traditionally been differentiated according to the presence or absence of dysplasia in the follicular epithelium. p16 has been suggested to be a useful tool to make the differential diagnosis between BD and AK and as a marker of bad prognosis.


METHODS
Five biopsies of BD, five of AK and five of bAK where stained for p53 and p16.


RESULTS
All lesions showed positive immunostaining of p53, affecting to the lower two thirds of the epidermis in BD and bAK, and only the basal layer in non-bAK. All the BD and bAK cases were positive for p16, showing a similar immunostaining pattern, whereas no staining was observed in non-bAK.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest a common pathogenic mechanism for BD and bAK. bAK might have worse prognosis than AK. p16 might not be useful as a tool for differential diagnosis between AK and BD because bAK and BD show an extremely similar immunohistochemical pattern.
Bagazgoitia
L
L
Dermatology Department, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. lorea_b@yahoo.com
Cuevas
J
J
Juarranz
A
A
D001706:Biopsy; D001913:Bowen's Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019942:Genes, p16; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D055623:Keratosis, Actinic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*
D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53