Prognostic and Risk Factors in Patients with Locally Advanced Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Trunk and Extremities

• Main Authors: de Lima Vazquez Vinicius, Cristovam Scapulatempo, Natalia Martins Perpetuo, Faheez Mohamed, Teóclito Sachetto de Carvalho, Antônio Talvane Torres de Oliveira, José Getúlio Martins Segalla, André Lopes Carvalho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2011-01-01
• Series: Journal of Skin Cancer
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/420796
• ISSN: 2090-2905; 2090-2913

55 patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) of the trunk and extremities were studied. A Tissue Microarray was constructed using immunohistochemistry to quantify expression of the HER family, E-cadherins, and podoplanin. Clinical and histopathological factors related to lymph node metastasis and prognosis were also established. Primary tumor positivity was 25.5% for EGFR, 87.3% for HER-3, and 48.1% for HER-4. Metastases were positive for EGFR in 41.7%, for HER-3 in 83.3%, and HER-4 in 43.5%. HER-2 was negative in all samples. Membrane E-cadherin and cytoplasmic E-cadherin were positive in 47.3% and 30.2% of primary tumors and 45.5% and 27.3% of metastases, respectively. Podoplanin was positive in 41.8% of primary tumors and 41.7% of metastases. Intratumoral lymphocytic infiltrate was associated with lymph node metastasis. Patients with T3 tumors had better cancer-specific survival (CSS) than those with T4 tumors; patients with no lymph node involvement had better CSS than patients with N1 tumors. Undifferentiated tumors and hyperexpression of podoplanin were negative prognostic indicators on multivariate analysis.