NanoString analysis confirmed the significant upregulation of MMP1 (undetected in healthy skin) and IFN-YR2 (1.6-fold, P < 0.01) in cSCC with no detectable alteretion in precancerous skin lesions (AK), whereas NOTCH2 was found to be downregulated not only in cSCC (1.8-fold, P < 0.0001) but even in pre-cancerous skin lesions (AK; 1.79-fold, P < 0.0001). Here, NOTCH2 is linked to skin squamous cell carcinoma.