Figure 1.
Patients enrolled and sample collection.
1A) Patients enrolled in the study, tumor diagnoses and immune status. SCC = squamous cell carcinoma. BCC = basal cell carcinoma. Imm’comp. (ICP) = immunocompetent patients. Imm.sup.(OTR) = organ transplant recipients (immunosuppressed patients). Gender (percentage male) and age (mean ± SEM) distribution in each group of patients is shown. 1 B) Age distribution in patient groups. Scatter plots including mean ± SEM are shown. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.005 (one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni‘s post-test). 1 C) From each case, a specimen was collected from the center of the tumor (T), from the tumor margin (M) including tumor cells as well as non-tumor cells, from peritumoral tissue (P) that does not contain any tumor cells, and from normal control skin (N) in far distance from the tumor.
Figure 2.
Distinct mRNA expression of differentiation genes in non-melanoma skin cancer.
mRNA expression of differentiation gene loricrin (LOR), filaggrin (FLG), keratin 5 (K5) and keratin 10 (K10) in the tumor center (T), tumor margin (M), peritumoral tissue (P) and distant normal skin (N) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, black bars) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC, white bars). Relative mRNA expression to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and normalized to normal skin is shown. Depicted are mean ± SEM values. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test for comparison between N, P, M and T and by Mann Whitney U test for comparison between SCC and BCC in each group. N = 28 SCC and 19 BCC.
Figure 3.
Distinct expression of toll like receptor genes in non-melanoma skin cancer.
mRNA expression of toll like receptor genes 1–9 (TLR1-9) in the tumor center (T), tumor margin (M), peritumoral tissue (P) and distant normal skin (N) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, black bars) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC, white bars). Relative mRNA expression to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and normalized to normal skin is shown. Depicted are mean ± SEM values. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test for comparison between N, P, M and T and by Mann Whitney U test for comparison between SCC and BCC in each group. N = 28 SCC and 19 BCC.
Figure 4.
Distinct expression of innate immune receptor signaling molecules and cytokines in non-melanoma skin cancer.
mRNA expression of TIR-domain-containing adaptor-inducing interferon-β (TRIF), TNF receptor-associated factors 1 and 2 (TRAF1 and 2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interferon-γ (IFNγ) in the tumor center (T), tumor margin (M), peritumoral tissue (P) and distant normal skin (N) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, black bars) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC, white bars). Relative mRNA expression to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and normalized to normal skin is shown. Depicted are mean ± SEM values. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test for comparison between N, P, M and T and by Mann Whitney U test for comparison between SCC and BCC in each group. N = 28 SCC and 19 BCC.
Figure 5.
Distinct expression of antimicrobial peptides in non-melanoma skin cancer.
mRNA expression of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP), human β-defensins 1–3 (hBD1–3, genes DEFB1, DEFB4 and DEFB103), RNase 7 (RNASE7) and psoriasisin (S100A7) in the tumor center (T), tumor margin (M), peritumoral tissue (P) and distant normal skin (N) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, black bars) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC, white bars). Relative mRNA expression to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and normalized to normal skin is shown. Depicted are mean ± SEM values. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test for comparison between N, P, M and T and by Mann Whitney U test for comparison between SCC and BCC in each group. N = 17 SCC from immunocompetent patients (ICP) and 19 BCC.
Figure 6.
Distinct protein expression of the antimicrobial peptides hBD1, hBD2 and psoriasin in squamous cell carcinoma of immunocompetent patients and organ transplant recipients.
Protein expression of the antimicrobial peptides hBD1, hBD2 and psoriasin as detected by immunofluorescence staining (green) in normal skin, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinomas in immunocompetent patients (SCC imm.comp.) and organ transplant recipients (SCC OTR). Nuclei were visualized with 4′-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue). The top row shows hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of the same skin samples. Arrows point at groups of tumor cells. Bar = 100 µm. Data are representative of five samples each.
Figure 7.
Distinct expression of antimicrobial peptides in squamous cell carcinoma of organ transplant recipients.
mRNA expression of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP), human β-defensins 1–3 (hBD1-3, genes DEFB1, DEFB4 and DEFB103), RNase 7 (RNASE7) and psoriasisin (S100A7) in the tumor center (T), tumor margin (M), peritumoral tissue (P) and distant normal skin (N) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of immunocompetent (Imm’comp., black bars) and immunosuppressed patients (OTR = organ transplant recipients, cross-hatched bars). Relative mRNA expression to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and normalized to normal skin is shown. Depicted are mean ± SEM values. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test for comparison between N, P, M and T and by Mann Whitney U test for comparison between immunocompetent and immunosuppressed patients in each group. N = 17 SCC from immunocompetent patients (ICP) and 11 SCC from organ transplant recipients (OTR).