title: Fascin expression is increased in metastatic lesions but does not correlate with progression nor outcome in melanoma.
abstract: Levels of the actin bundling protein fascin correlate with invasion and metastasis and reveal prognostic value in many epithelial carcinomas. However, we know very little about the potential role of fascin in melanoma. The purpose of this study is to compare fascin expression in primary melanomas and melanoma metastasis. Fascin expression was examined through the immunohistochemistry of paraffin embedded tissue microarrays including 560 cores of primary tumour and metastasis. Fascin expression was significantly elevated in 48 metastases compared with 254 primary tumours (P=0.034). In 187 patients with primary melanomas, fascin was not correlated with survival (P=0.067), whereas low fascin was significantly correlated with the presence of ulceration (P=0.005). Our results indicate that fascin status does not correlate with progression in melanoma. Upregulated fascin expression was detected in melanoma metastases, but was not correlated to patient outcome.
authors.affiliation: aBeatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow bEdinburgh Cancer Centre cDepartment of Pathology, NHS Lothian, Western General Hospital dEdinburgh Cancer Research Centre, MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK eMedical Oncology Group, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, School of Medicine, University of New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Yafeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Faller
authors.forename: Owen J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Sansom
authors.forename: Ewan R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Tamasin N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Doig
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Melton
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Machesky
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D011379:Prognosis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C502658:FSCN1 protein, human; D008840:Microfilament Proteins