Keratinocyte expression of CD36 antigen in benign and malignant epidermal cell-derived tumours

Keratinocytes express the macrophage/monocyte antigen CD36 in a variety of inflammatory cutaneous diseases characterised by a T lymphocyte rich infiltrate. Since cell-mediated immune mechanisms also play a role in host responses to skin tumours, we investigated the presence of CD36 antigen on keratinocytes in a range of epidermal cell-derived benign and malignant tumours characterised by a peritumoural, dermal lymphocytic infiltrate. Frozen tissue sections of lesional tissue from a range of epidermally derived tumours were labelled with antibodies to CD1a, CD11b, CD36, and HLA-DR antigens. Benign and malignant squamoproliferative tumour cells exhibited a spectrum of CD36 expression, whereas those of basal cell origin were consistently CD36-. Suprabasal expression of CD36 was present in the normal perilesional epidermis of all tumours studied including basal cell carcinoma. Keratinocyte CD11b expression was not observed. The widespread presence of keratinocyte CD36 positivity in squamoproliferative, but not basal epidermal, tumours suggests its expression may be linked to the degree of keratinocyte differentiation. The stimulus for expression is unknown, but the fact that suprabasal perilesional epidermis expressed CD36 strongly in the absence of infiltrate suggests it may represent a non-specific response by keratinocytes to various stimuli.