Podoplanin expression in cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas and its relationship to histopathological prognostic factors

ABSTRACT

There are several clinicopathological factors associated with the prognosis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCC), but there remains a lack of molecular markers associated with cSCC tumor progression. This study aimed to determine the association between histopathological prognostic parameters and tumoral podoplanin expression in cSCC. This study included 63 paraffin embedded cSCC samples that were evaluated for tumoral podoplanin expression using immunohistochemistry. Among the 63 tumor samples, 27% lacked podoplanin expression, 22% exhibited diffuse podoplanin expression, and 51% exhibited focal podoplanin expression. Tumoral podoplanin expression was correlated with lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis (p value < 0.05, for both). Additional research is needed to further delineate how the tumoral podoplanin expression can be used as a prognostic marker in patients with cSCC.