title: Expression of CD44s and CD44 splice variants in human melanoma.
abstract: The ability of tumor cells to adhere and detach from extracellular matrix and endothelial cells, is a crucial step in the metastatic process and may alter the clinical prognosis of some human tumors such as melanomas. CD44, the major cell surface receptor for hyaluronate, has been implicated in cell adhesion and in tumor progression. We studied the expression of standard CD44 molecule (CD44s) and its variants v3 and v6 in 57 human primary melanoma biopsies, without previous treatment. We analyzed the association between CD44 expression and the principal clinicopathological features, including survival. Fifty-six of 57 tumors expressed CD44s, associated to the cytoplasmic membrane. No expression of CD44v3 or CD44v6 was detected. No association between CD44s expression and prognostic factors such as tumor thickness, growth type, stage or anatomic site of the lesion was found. However, a positive correlation between CD44s expression and Clark level (Spearman, p<0.001) was found. While only 33.3% of melanomas Clark I + II showed high expression of CD44s (more than 50% of positive cells), 82.6% of melanomas Clark IV + V did so. Kaplan-Meier analysis revelead that patients whose melanomas had high expression of CD44s showed a reduced relapse free survival (RFS) rate, though without statistical significance. No difference between the level of CD44 expression and overall survival (OS) was found. We conclude that melanomas only expressed CD44s, and that its level was associated with Clark's stage. CD44s seems not to be useful as a tumor marker, because it does not predict either RFS or OS.
authors.affiliation: Research Area, Institute of Oncology <Angel H. Roffo>, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Stella Maris
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ranuncolo
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ladeda
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gorostidy
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morandi
authors.forename: Mirta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lastiri
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Loria
authors.forename: Roxana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Del Aguila
authors.forename: Elisa Bal de Kier
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Joffé
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pallotta
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Puricelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: C121450:CD44V3,8-10; C112697:CD44v6 antigen; D006023:Glycoproteins; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors