[Proliferative activity of basal cell and metatypical cell carcinoma of the skin]

Using avidin-biotin, immunoperoxidase techniques and antibodies to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PC10), 32 cases of primary basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 10 cases of recurrent BCC and 8 cases of metatypical carcinoma (MTC) of the skin were studied. The majority of cases of primary BCC had low level of cell proliferative activity, whereas high cell proliferative index was found only in 7 cases. Recurrent BCC as well as MTC exhibited high level of cell proliferative index that 3-4 times exceeded the same index of primary BCC. BCC had either uniform or regional distribution of proliferative cells. Tumors with regional distribution of proliferative cells are characterized by a low level of proliferation. The revealed difference in cell proliferation between primary BCC, recurrent BCC and MTC may be valuable criterion for detecting the degree of tumor malignancy.