Patients with premalignant actinic keratoses, basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were included in the study. Punch biopsies were harvested from the center of the tumors, from sites of healthy skin and a healthy control group. DGCR8, TARBP1, TARBP2, argonaute-1, argonaute-2 and PACT mRNA expression levels were detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.