DSP and cancer: In further support of the proposed role of desmosomes as a barrier to malignant progression, several pathology studies characterizing human cancers have shown that decreased or altered expression of desmosomal components, including Dsp, correlates with increased tumor invasion, advanced tumor grade, and poor patient prognosis, particularly in oral cancers where expression of desmosomal components are highly expressed in the normal oral mucosa [4], [5], [27].