Abstract:

Objective    To investigate the expression and significance of FOXP3 in normal skin and lesions of different epidermis neoplasms. Methods    The immunohistochemical EnVision method was applied to detect expression of FOXP3 in 20 seborrheic keratosis(SK),19 actinic keratosis(AK), 21 Bowen′s disease (BD), 13 squamous cell carcinoma(SCC), and 13 normal skin controls. Results    The positive rates of FOXP3positive lymphocytes in lesions of SK, AK, BD and SCC were higher than that in normal skin tissue（P＜0.01）. There was a significant difference in expression of FOXP3 among the SK,AK,BD and SCC lesions(P＜0.01). The positive rate of FOXP3positive lymphocytes in AK lesions was higher than that in SK lesions(P＜0.05). The positivity rates of FOXP3-positive lymphocytes in BD and SCC lesions were both higher than that in AK lesions(P＜0.05), while no significant difference in expression of FOXP3 between lesions of BD and SCC was observed(P＞0.05). Conclusions    FOXP3positive lymphocytes gradually increase in epidermis neoplasms from benign to malignant tumors. They may play an important role in immune escape of epidermal tumors and promote their occurrence and development.

Key words: Epidermis neoplasms； Forkhead box protein-3； Regulatory T lymphocyte