Background: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are the 2 most common cutaneous carcinomas. Molecular profiles predicting metastasis of these cancers have not been identified.
Methods: Epigenetic profiles of 37 primary cases of cutaneous SCC and BCC were quantified via the Illumina Goldengate Cancer Panel. Differential protein expression by metastatic potential was analyzed in 110 total cases by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining.
Results: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that metastatic BCCs had a methylation profile resembling cutaneous SCCs. Metastatic cutaneous SCCs were found to be hypermethylated at FRZB (median methylation: 46.7% vs 4.7%; p = 4 × 10(-5) ). Metastatic BCCs were found to be hypomethylated at MYCL2 (median methylation: 3.8% vs 83.4%; p = 1.9 × 10(-6) ). Immunohistochemical staining revealed few differences between metastatic and nonmetastatic cancers.
Conclusion: Metastatic primary BCCs and cutaneous SCCs had distinct epigenetic profiles when compared to their nonmetastatic counterparts. Epigenetic profiling may prove useful in future diagnosis and prevention of advanced nonmelanoma skin cancers.
Keywords: DNA methylation; basal; cutaneous carcinoma; epigenetic; metastasis; squamous.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.