Track: Clinical Studies

Topic: Melanocytic Neoplasms

Abstract:

Melanoma is a common dermatological malignancy affecting millions of people worldwide. BRAF V600 mutated melanoma can be treated by targeted chemotherapy. As suggested by the literature PTEN is associated with increased Breslow's depth that increases the chances of metastatic disease. CDK4 is associated with familial melanoma and BLF-1 is an antiapoptotic molecule that belongs to BCL-1 family of proteins that regulates neutrophil survival and homeostasis and is controlled by PI3K and JAK/STAT signaling pathway.

Thirteen cases of melanoma were retrieved, tumor sections were subjected to hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry by using BLF-1, PTEN and CDK4 antibodies. Blinded review was performed by two pathologists and the staining was analyzed as mild, moderate, and strong (1+, 2+, and 3+) and the percentage of tumor cells staining was graded out of 100. Statistical analysis was done by Minitab software and Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between different variables.

We noticed significant expressions of BLF-1(71%), PTEN (60%), CDK4(72%) in BRAF V600 mutated and BLF-1(85%), PTEN (71%), CDK4(75%) in BRAF V600 wild type melanoma cases. Statistically significant correlation was noted between expression of CDK4 and Breslow’s depth with 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.160, 0.886) and P-value 0.015. No statistically significant correlation was found between expression of BLF-1 and PTEN in relation to stage, Breslow’s depth, and lymph node metastases.

Our study delivers a novel insight regarding the expression of PTEN, BLF-1 and CDK4 in primary and metastatic melanoma. Positive expression of these makers might be a possible therapeutic option for metastatic melanoma.

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Mahsa Mirzakhani, PhD