Perineural invasion (PNI) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and desmoplastic melanoma (DM) may be a negative prognostic finding, and likely contributes to increased rates of local recurrence. The biological mechanisms underlying PNI remain unclear, although several lines of evidence implicate neurotrophins and their receptors. Expression of the high affinity nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor TrkA has been shown to be associated with PNI in numerous malignancies, although literature in cutaneous neoplasms is sparse. Given this, we sought to ascertain the incidence of PNI in a cohort cSCCs using double immunostaining (DIS), and to investigate PNI's relationship with TrkA expression and established histopathologic prognosticators. In DMs we investigated the relationship between TrkA and PNI. In DM we additionally analyzed expression of the low affinity NGF receptor (p75NGFR) and the presence of a functional polymorphism in the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor RET (RETp) as they relate to PNI.
In this IRB approved study, cSCCs from the head and neck (H&N) and 53 from non-H&N areas were immunohistochemically analyzed for PNI (DIS with S100 and p63) and TrkA expression. For DM, 43 cases were immunohistochemically evaluated for TrkA and p75NGFR expression while RETp was detected by direct DNA sequencing. The presence of each was correlated with histologically observed PNI.
In cSCCs, comparing H&N versus non-H&N areas; using hemotoxylin and eosin (H&E) PNI was detected in 11% versus 6% of cases respectively and using DIS, in 23% versus 15% respectively, with significant disagreement between both methods (𝜅=0.47, p=0.002). There was a 2.33 fold increase in PNI detection with DIS compared to H&E (95%CI: 1.12-4.87; p=0.02). TrkA expression was 2.9 times more frequently observed in cSCCs from the H&N compared to those from non-H&N areas (p=0.01). Regardless of site, TrkA expression was associated with decreased degree of differentiation (OR=6.46, p=0.0006) and high-risk morphologic variants (OR = 6.53, p=0.002). TrkA expression was not significantly associated with PNI (p=0.33).
In DM, PNI was present in 67% of cases. On univariate analysis; p75NGFR was associated with PNI (expression detected in 79% of PNI-positive cases compared to 36% of PNI-negative cases, p=0.005), increased Breslow's depth and greater Clark's Level (p= 0.007 and p= 0.01 respectively). RETp was noted in 28% of cases but was not significantly associated with PNI (p=0.27) or other histopathologic variables. TrkA expression was absent in all cases. PNI was associated with increased Breslow's depth and Clark's Level (p=0.01 and p=0.009 respectively). Controlling for the association between p75NGFR and depth, p75NGFR remained associated with an increased propensity for PNI (OR=4.68, p=0.04).
In conclusion, increased PNI detection with DIS in cSCCs underscores the adjunctive utility of immunohistochemistry in microstaging. Although unlikely to play a role in the development of PNI, TrkA's association with cSCCs from H&N and select histopathologic parameters suggests a role for the NGF-TrKA axis in tumorogenesis while its absent expression in DM suggests that expression is lineage-related. Lastly, In DM, p75NGFR expression is significantly associated with PNI and a more locally aggressive phenotype.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/16317 |
| Date | 08 April 2016 |
| Creators | Frydenlund, Noah |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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