title: Twist1 in tumor cells and α-smooth muscle actin in stromal cells are possible biomarkers for metastatic giant basal cell carcinoma.
abstract: We previously reported a case of giant basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in a 75-year-old Japanese man, who subsequently developed a pulmonary metastasis. With regard to the pathogenesis of metastasis of BCC, recently, it has been reported that high levels of expression of Twist1 and N-cadherin in primary and metastatic tumor cells, suggesting that Twist1 expression and an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of tumor cells are important for the promotion of tumor invasion and subsequent metastasis. In this report, we identified the expressions of Twist1 in tumor cells and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in stromal cells in the primary and metastatic sites of giant BCC. These results suggest that Twist1-induced EMT of tumor cells might have been associated with distant organ metastasis in our case, and the presence of α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts surrounding a BCC nest can be one of hallmarks of the aggressiveness of BCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan. smotegi@gunma-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Sei-ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Motegi
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C541116:ACTA2 protein, human; D000199:Actins; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C103173:TWIST1 protein, human; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1
keywords: Twist 1; basal cell carcinoma; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; metastasis; α-smooth muscle actin