Immunohistochemical study of galectin-3 expression in basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, seborrheic keratosis and keratoacanthoma

Background Galectin-3 is a ß-galactoside-binding lectin. It has a role in many normal and pathologic processes, such as tumor cell growth, apoptosis, cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. Objective To study the immunohistochemical expression of galectin-3 in seborrheic keratosis (SK) as an example of benign epidermal proliferation, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) as examples of malignant skin tumors and keratoacanthoma (KA). Patients and methods This study is a retrospective case–control study which included 40 cases: BCC, SCC, SK, KA with subsequent changes and eight paraffin blocks of site, gender and age matched healthy skin were used as controls. All were subjected to the hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining for galectin-3. Results There was a statistically significant decrease in nuclear galectin-3 expression in the adjacent epidermis of BCC, SCC, SK, and KA as compared with normal epidermis. There was a statistically significant decrease in cytoplasmic and nuclear galectin-3 expression in BCC, SCC, SK, and KA compared with normal control. Moreover, nuclear galectin-3 expression was negatively correlated with increase in tumor size in BCC. Conclusion The marked decrease in nuclear galectin-3 expression suggests that decreased nuclear galectin-3 expression in tumors is an important factor in the progression from normal to tumor states. So, we speculate that nuclear galectin-3 expression may be one of the factors that contribute to tumor behavior in cutaneous BCC.