Quantitative Analysis Of Immunohistochemical Expression Of Bcl-2, Bax, Bcl-xl Proteins In Basal Cell Carcinoma

Objective: To explore the effection of Bcl-2, Bax, Bcl-xl proteins on carcinogencsis and development of Basal cell carcinoma(BCC), their immunoh istochemical expression were studied. Methods: Immunohistochemical detection of the expression of Bcl-2, flax, BcI-xl proteins were performed on paraffin embcded sections of 48 cases of BCC and 5 cases of normal epidermis. Stereological methods was then adopted to analyze quantitatively the immunohistochemical results. The expression of the three proteins and Bcl-2/Bax, Bcl-xl/Bax ratio were compared between the indolent BCC group and infiltrative BCC group. Results: Bcl-2, Bax, Bcl-xl proteins were universally expressed in tumor nests of BCC, while in normal epidermis their distribution varied according to different differentiated cell strata. The expression level of Bcl-2 protein and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax were higher in indolent BCC group than that of in aggressive BCC group. Conclusions: 1. Bcl-2, Bax,Bcl-xl proteins might participate the carcinogenesis and development of BCC, their may also play a role in the differentiation and homostasis of epidermis. 2. The level of Bcl-2 protein expression and the ratio of 13c1-2/Bax correlate with the biological behavior of 13CC. Higher level of L3c1-2 protein expression and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax may predict elevated chances of recurrence of. 3. The stereological thoughts and methods uesed in this study may also be applied to the quantitative analysis of immunohistochemical expression of proteins existing in cytoplasma with obscure cell bounds.