title: Prognostic significance of tyrosinase expression in sentinel lymph node biopsy for ultra-thin, thin, and thick melanomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Investigate if the tyrosinase mRNA expression may be predictive of the outcome on ultra-thin, thin, and thick melanoma patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In our study, we sought to correlate tyrosinase mRNA expression to the outcome in a group of 71 patients with thick, thin and ultra-thin melanomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  71 patients with melanomas underwent a SLNB (sentinel lymph node biopsy) at the "Sapienza" University of Rome. Among these, 38 patients had thin melanomas, while the other 33 patients had thick melanomas. In every patient's sample histology, immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was completed. We then correlated tyrosinase mRNA expression to the statistical analysis of the outcome of patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Positivity of histology was found in one patient (1.4%), immunohistochemistry in five patients (7%), and tyrosinase in 52/71 (73.2%). Thickness and tyrosinase positivity were predictive for disease progression (p < 0.05). The median follow-up was 58.24 months. There were recurrences and/or deaths in both groups of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nodal metastasis in melanoma is uncommon, especially in patients with thin melanomas. In this study, histology and immunohistochemistry were found to be non predictive for the risk of nodal metastases, while instead, tyrosinase m-RNA expression appeared to play a role in highlighting those patients with a risk of disease progression. Moreover, no differences among the thin melanoma groups of patients (0.30-0.75 mm and 0.76-1.00 mm) were observed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. emanuelecigna@msn.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gradilone
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gazzaniga
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ribuffo
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bottoni
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frati
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Aglian
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sorvillo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piperno
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scuderi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cigna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000201:enzymology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis*; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
chemical_list: D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase