Is Paraoxonase-2 a Marker for Cutaneous Neoplasms?
Posted: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Recent research has identified a potential diagnostic and prognostic role for the intracellular enzyme paraoxonase-2 (PON2) in skin neoplasms, such as basal cell carcinoma. Tiziana Bacchetti, PhD, and colleagues from the Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy, reported that PON2 expression levels seem to correlate with the aggressiveness of both basal cell cancer and melanoma. Their findings were published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.
“Our study is the first to demonstrate PON2 upregulation in both basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, as well as to identify a significant positive correlation between enzyme expression and aggressiveness of these tumors,” noted the authors.
A retrospective study was conducted using immunohistochemistry to evaluate 29 melanoma samples and 36 basal cell carcinoma samples. The basal cell carcinoma samples were differentiated based on nodular and infiltrative lesions. Statistical analysis was used to determine correlations between clinicopathologic features and PON2 expression.
Results indicated overexpression of PON2 in basal cell carcinoma and melanoma samples. PON2 expression was significantly higher in infiltrative basal cell carcinomas than in controls (P < .0001). In the melanoma samples, a significant positive correlation was found between PON2 expression and Breslow thickness (P < .0001), Clark level (P < .0001), the presence (P < .0001) and number (P = .0082) of mitoses, primary tumor parameter (P = .0061), and pathologic stage (P = .0061). Upregulation of PON2 was also noted in samples with lymph node metastasis (P = .049) and those without regression (P = .047).
“Taken together, these data lead us to suggest a positive correlation between PON2 expression and unfavorable prognosis of melanoma patients, highlighting an interesting prognostic potential for the enzyme,” the authors determined.
Disclosure: The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
