title: FTIR microspectroscopic characterization of Spitz nevi.
abstract: In the last 10 years, few efforts have been carried out to apply vibrational spectroscopy in the study of dermal pathologies in order to characterize the most relevant spectral markers for distinguishing benign from cancerous lesions. Spitz nevi are a special group of benign melanocytic lesions, characterized by spindled and/or epithelioid nevomelanocytes, with peculiar clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological features. The "atypical forms" of Spitz nevi are among the commonest problems of differential diagnosis with the so-called "spitzoid melanomas". The clinical and histological criteria for discriminating these two entities are very subtle and often still quite subjective, and, in a significant percentage of cases, can lead to diagnostic pitfalls and inadequate therapies. Therefore, it is noteworthy to outline that the diagnosis of melanocytic lesions still represents a challenging problem and a continue matter of discussion. We exploited FTIR microspectroscopy to study the different kinds of spitzoid melanocytes, in order to define the most relevant spectral markers of each specimen and to achieve objective information on "borderline" histologically atypical lesions. In particular, the spectroscopic investigation was carried out on melanocytes deriving from normal skin (as a normal control), malignant melanoma and Spitz nevi. The presence of the characteristic bands of melanin was investigated, too.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors: Elisabetta
authors: E
authors: Giorgini
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors: Giorgio
authors: G
authors: Tosi
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze e Ingegneria della Materia, dell'Ambiente ed Urbanistica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors: Carla
authors: C
authors: Conti
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomorfologiche e Funzionali, Università Federico II, via Panzini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors: Stefania
authors: S
authors: Staibano
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomorfologiche e Funzionali, Università Federico II, via Panzini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors: Gennaro
authors: G
authors: Ilardi
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze e Ingegneria della Materia, dell'Ambiente ed Urbanistica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: s.sabbatini@univpm.it.
authors: Simona
authors: S
authors: Sabbatini
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000473:pathology; D018332:Nevus, Epithelioid and Spindle Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014732:Vibration
keywords: Infrared microspectroscopy; Melanocytes; Multivariate analysis; Spitz nevi