Engrailed homeobox 1 and cytokeratin 19 are independent diagnostic markers of eccrine porocarcinoma and distinguish it from squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Objectives: The diagnostic utility of En1 in the histopathologic differentiation of eccrine porocarcinoma (EPC) from invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was investigated. Methods: Expression of En1 and CK19 in 16 cases of EPC was immunohistochemically examined and compared with that in 32 cases of SCC. Results: In all 16 EPCs, En1 was expressed in 3% to 100% of tumor cells. In 20 of the 32 SCCs, En1 was expressed in 3% to 90% of tumor cells. A total of 13 of the 16 EPCs and five of the 32 SCCs were judged as En1 positive, with a cutoff value of 25%. In addition, 11 of the 16 EPCs and four of the 32 SCCs were CK19 positive. The frequencies of En1- and CK19-positive cases were significantly higher in EPCs than in SCCs. In a logistic regression analysis for predicting EPC, En1 and CK19 were independent markers. When expression patterns of En1 and CK19 were combined, none of the 32 SCCs was both positive. In contrast, 15 of the 16 EPCs were positive for either En1 or CK19. Conclusions: A combination of En1 and CK19 expression can improve the accuracy of histologic diagnosis of EPC.