Expression of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and its receptor in epithelial skin tumors

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptors (G-CSFR) have been observed on the surface of not only hematopoietic cells but also several cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the expression of G-CSFR or G-CSF in epithelial skin tumors by immunohistochemical staining. The assessments were defined by the percentage of G-CSFR or G-CSF positive cells and expressed as G-CSFR and G-CSF scores. The G-CSFR score in SCC (77.6 +/- 20.0%) was significantly higher than that in Bowen's disease (BD) (51.0 +/- 35.6%), actinic keratosis (AK) (49.3 +/- 34.6%) or normal skin (30.0 +/- 32.1%) (P = 0.0004, P = 0.0003, P < 0.0001, respectively). The mean G-CSF score in SCC (56.7 +/- 27.4%) or in ED (44.1 +/- 31.4%) was higher than that in normal skin (24.9 +/- 25.8%) (P = 0.0075, P < 0.001, respectively). G-CSF expression in AK (29.8 +/- 31.2%) was lower than that in SCC (P = 0.0037). There was significant positive correlation between the G-CSFR score and the G-CSF score (gamma = 0.274, P = 0.0107) in skin tumors. These findings suggested that the assessment of G-CSFR expression might be associated with carcinogenesis of skin tumors. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.