title: Expression of TLR3, 4, 7 and 9 in cutaneous malignant melanoma: relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.
abstract: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have achieved an extraordinary amount of interest in cancer research due to their role in tumor progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and clinical relevance of TLR3, 4, 7 and 9 in cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). The expression levels of TLR3, 4, 7 and 9 were analyzed in tumors from 30 patients with CMM. The analysis was performed by immunohistochemistry, and the results were correlated with various clinicopathological findings and with relapse-free survival. Our results indicate that there was a wide variability in the immunostaining score values for each receptor. Positive staining for TLRs was generally found in tumor cells, especially for TLR4 and TLR9. Nevertheless, a significant percentage of tumors also showed TLR4 expression in mononuclear inflammatory cells (62.1 %) and in fibroblast-like cells (34.5 %). Our results showed no significant association between score values for each TLR and clinicopathological characteristics of patients. However, our results demonstrated that high TLR4 expression was significantly associated with a shortened relapse-free survival (p = 0.001). Therefore, TLR4 expression may be a new prognostic factor of unfavorable evolution in cutaneous malignant melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eiró
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ovies
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Garcia
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Dermatología, Hospital de Cabueñes, Gijón, Spain.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Álvarez-Cuesta
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain.|Servicio de Anatomía Patológica, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Gijón, Spain.
authors.forename: L O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Avda. Eduardo Castro s/n, Gijón, 33920, Asturias, Spain. investigacion@hospitaldejove.com.|Servicio de Cirugía General, Fundación Hospital de Jove, Gijón, Spain. investigacion@hospitaldejove.com.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Vizoso
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D051196:Toll-Like Receptor 3 / Q000032:analysis*; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000032:analysis*; D051199:Toll-Like Receptor 7 / Q000032:analysis*; D051200:Toll-Like Receptor 8 / Q000032:analysis*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C495344:TLR3 protein, human; C495345:TLR4 protein, human; C495348:TLR7 protein, human; C495349:TLR8 protein, human; D051196:Toll-Like Receptor 3; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4; D051199:Toll-Like Receptor 7; D051200:Toll-Like Receptor 8