The detection of melanoma cells in peripheral blood has been proposed to select patients with a high risk of relapse. In this study, tyrosinase and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1) mRNA expression was...The detection of melanoma cells in peripheral blood has been proposed to select patients with a high risk of relapse. In this study, tyrosinase and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1) mRNA expression was evaluated in serial samples obtained before definitive surgery and during follow-up in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I-II melanoma. Serial samples (n = 2,262) were collected from 236 patients from 1997 to 2002. Analyses of the RNA samples were performed with a calibrated reverse transcriptase-PCR assay. Gender, age, primary tumor site, ulceration, thickness, Clark level, and histological subtype were analyzed together with tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA treated as updated covariates in a Cox proportional-hazard model. After a median follow-up time of 66 months, 42 out of 236 patients (18%) had relapsed. The following variables were significantly associated with relapse free survival in the univariate analyses: tyrosinase, MART-1, gender, ulceration, thickness, Clark level, and histological subtype. Entering these covariates into a multivariate Cox analysis resulted in thickness as the single independent prognostic factor (P < 0.0001), whereas MART-1 (P = 0.07) approached significance at the 5%significance level. The serial measurements of tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA in peripheral blood of stage I-II melanoma patients cannot be demonstrated to have independent prognostic impact on relapse free survival.展开更多
Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) is widely employed in the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer and is a preferred treatment for many cutaneous malignancies, particularly in high risk locations and tumors [1,2]. It ha...Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) is widely employed in the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer and is a preferred treatment for many cutaneous malignancies, particularly in high risk locations and tumors [1,2]. It has also been used in the narrow excision of malignant melanoma with local control rates equivalent to standard margins [3]. It has gained acceptance in the treatment of noninvasive melanoma where standard 0.5 cm margins may be inadequate for local control [4]. The frozen section processing used in MMS has been assumed by some to be inadequate in assessing melanocyte populations or residual melanoma within excision margins. This difficulty has likely led to a majority of surgeons with fellowship training to process margins with slow, permanent hematoxylin and eosin sections (“slowmohs”) or to simply resort to standard 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 cm margins with traditional excision and outside pathology confirmation of clear margins. A recent survey of practicing fellowship-trained Mohs surgeons revealed roughly one-third (35.9%) of Mohs surgeons felt comfortable interpreting MART-1 immunostains, and far fewer were actually performing immunostains in their labs [5]. Some Mohs surgeons currently refer melanoma to a colleague experienced in processing and reading melanoma with available rapid immunostaining. The development of rapid immunohistochemistry, which can be implemented into a traditional frozen section laboratory, has greatly improved the ease of interpreting margins in the excision of melanoma. Although the process is considerably more complicated than staining with H&E or Toluidine Blue (T-Blue), it easily falls within the skill-set and equipment of most busy frozen section laboratories. The additional cost of biologic reagents may be fully recovered by proper billing of immunohistochemical laboratory work and interpretation of slides.展开更多
文摘The detection of melanoma cells in peripheral blood has been proposed to select patients with a high risk of relapse. In this study, tyrosinase and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1) mRNA expression was evaluated in serial samples obtained before definitive surgery and during follow-up in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I-II melanoma. Serial samples (n = 2,262) were collected from 236 patients from 1997 to 2002. Analyses of the RNA samples were performed with a calibrated reverse transcriptase-PCR assay. Gender, age, primary tumor site, ulceration, thickness, Clark level, and histological subtype were analyzed together with tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA treated as updated covariates in a Cox proportional-hazard model. After a median follow-up time of 66 months, 42 out of 236 patients (18%) had relapsed. The following variables were significantly associated with relapse free survival in the univariate analyses: tyrosinase, MART-1, gender, ulceration, thickness, Clark level, and histological subtype. Entering these covariates into a multivariate Cox analysis resulted in thickness as the single independent prognostic factor (P < 0.0001), whereas MART-1 (P = 0.07) approached significance at the 5%significance level. The serial measurements of tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA in peripheral blood of stage I-II melanoma patients cannot be demonstrated to have independent prognostic impact on relapse free survival.
文摘Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) is widely employed in the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer and is a preferred treatment for many cutaneous malignancies, particularly in high risk locations and tumors [1,2]. It has also been used in the narrow excision of malignant melanoma with local control rates equivalent to standard margins [3]. It has gained acceptance in the treatment of noninvasive melanoma where standard 0.5 cm margins may be inadequate for local control [4]. The frozen section processing used in MMS has been assumed by some to be inadequate in assessing melanocyte populations or residual melanoma within excision margins. This difficulty has likely led to a majority of surgeons with fellowship training to process margins with slow, permanent hematoxylin and eosin sections (“slowmohs”) or to simply resort to standard 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 cm margins with traditional excision and outside pathology confirmation of clear margins. A recent survey of practicing fellowship-trained Mohs surgeons revealed roughly one-third (35.9%) of Mohs surgeons felt comfortable interpreting MART-1 immunostains, and far fewer were actually performing immunostains in their labs [5]. Some Mohs surgeons currently refer melanoma to a colleague experienced in processing and reading melanoma with available rapid immunostaining. The development of rapid immunohistochemistry, which can be implemented into a traditional frozen section laboratory, has greatly improved the ease of interpreting margins in the excision of melanoma. Although the process is considerably more complicated than staining with H&E or Toluidine Blue (T-Blue), it easily falls within the skill-set and equipment of most busy frozen section laboratories. The additional cost of biologic reagents may be fully recovered by proper billing of immunohistochemical laboratory work and interpretation of slides.
