The Immunohistochemical Expression of the Serine and Arginine-Rich Splicing Factor 1 (SRSF1) Is a Predictive Factor of the Recurrence of Basal Cell Carcinoma: A Preliminary Study on a Series of 52 Cases

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are the most frequent skin tumors; although they usually exhibit a good prognosis, it has been reported that there is a 2–8% rate of local recurrence of surgically-excised BCCs, even in the presence of tumor-free surgical margins. Several histological and clinical risk factors have been associated with a higher risk of local relapse; however, the exact pathogenetic mechanisms that regulate the local recurrence of these tumors are still to be elucidated. The serine and arginine-rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1) is an RNA-binding protein whose oncogenic function has been described in numerous forms of human cancers, including brain, lung, and prostate tumors. We evaluated the correlation between SRSF1 immunoexpression and the local recurrence of BCCs. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two cases of surgically excised BCCs with free-tumor margins (10 high-risk and 42 low-risk variants), for which follow-up data were available, were selected. Local recurrence occurred in only 5 cases. Results: We found high and low immunoexpressions of SRSF1 in 18 and 34 cases, respectively. A statistically significant association between high SRSF1 immunoexpression and the local recurrence of BCC was found (p = 0.0433). Conclusions: Our immunohistochemical results suggest an active role of SRSF1 in inducing a local recurrence of BCCs; however, further studies on a larger series are needed to validate our findings.

SRSF1 induces glioma progression and has a potential diagnostic application in grading primary glioma

“…Beyond the significance for auxiliary diagnosis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that patients with HGG and high SRSF1 expression had shorter OS times than those with low SRSF1 expression in the CGGA datasets and among the clinical cases. A preliminary study previously reported that SRSF1 is a predictive factor for basal cell carcinoma recurrence (18). It has also been demonstrated that SRSF1 is associated with various factors affecting the prognosis of ovarian cancer (22), hepatocellular carcinoma (23) and hematological malignancies (24).…”

“…The brown staining of the cell nuclei was interpreted as positive SRSF1 and Ki-67 staining, and staining of the cell cytoplasm was considered positive IDH1 R132 staining. The immunoreactive score (IRS) was calculated by multiplying the staining intensity by the percentage of positive cells, as previously reported (18). The staining intensity was scored as follows: 0 (negative staining), 1 (weak staining), 2 (moderate staining) and 3 (strong staining).…”