Metastasizing and non-metastasizing thick melanoma: clinicopathological predictors and molecular profiling.

Güvenç C, Antoranz A, Szumera-Cieckiewicz A, Teterycz PP, Rutkowski P, Rawson RV, Scolyer RA, Thompson JF, Newton-Bishop , Stas M, Boecxstaens V, Bechter O, Vercauteren J, Garmyn M, van den Oord J, Bosisio FM. Dutch Journal of Dermatology and Venereology. 2022 Oct

Abstract

Background. Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and its worldwide incidence rises faster than that of any other cancer (1). Early stages can successfully be treated by surgery, but once metastasis has occurred, the prognosis is infaust.
Prognosis can be predicted on the basis of the stage of the patient and depends on a number of clinicopathological parameters,
including thickness and ulceration of the primary melanoma (2). However, some 5-10% of thick (≥2mm) melanomas do not follow
this scenario and run an unpredictable course. In our earlier study on thick primary melanomas (≥2mm) from UZ (n=141) and
Leeds database (n=141), we did not find an association between outcome and clinicopathological parameters. We therefore
compare the molecular composition of thick primary melanomas that did metastasize with a matched group of thick primary
melanomas that did not metastasize, aiming to identify a gene signature associated with non-metastasizing melanomas.