title: Vitronectin and dermcidin serum levels predict the metastatic progression of AJCC I-II early-stage melanoma.
abstract: Like many cancers, an early diagnosis of melanoma is fundamental to ensure a good prognosis, although an important proportion of stage I-II patients may still develop metastasis during follow-up. The aim of this work was to discover serum biomarkers in patients diagnosed with primary melanoma that identify those at a high risk of developing metastasis during the follow-up period. Proteomic and mass spectrophotometry analysis was performed on serum obtained from patients who developed metastasis during the first years after surgery for primary tumors and compared with that from patients who remained disease-free for more than 10 years after surgery. Five proteins were selected for validation as prognostic factors in 348 melanoma patients and 100 controls by ELISA: serum amyloid A and clusterin; immune system proteins; the cell adhesion molecules plakoglobin and vitronectin and the antimicrobial protein dermcidin. Compared to healthy controls, melanoma patients have high serum levels of these proteins at the moment of melanoma diagnosis, although the specific values were not related to the histopathological stage of the tumors. However, an analysis based on classification together with multivariate statistics showed that tumor stage, vitronectin and dermcidin levels were associated with the metastatic progression of patients with early-stage melanoma. Although melanoma patients have increased serum dermcidin levels, the REPTree classifier showed that levels of dermcidin <2.98 μg/ml predict metastasis in AJCC stage II patients. These data suggest that vitronectin and dermcidin are potent biomarkers of prognosis, which may help to improve the personalized medical care of melanoma patients and their survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ortega-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gardeazabal
authors.affiliation: BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Asier
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erramuzpe
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Diez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.|Ikerbasque: The Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cortés
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: María D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: García-Vázquez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Gorka
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pérez-Yarza
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Izu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luís Díaz-Ramón
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine Lopez-Neyra, Parque Tecnológico Ciencias De La Salud, Avenida Del Conocimiento S/N, Armilla, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Ildefonso M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: de la Fuente
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Aintzane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asumendi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.|BioCruces Health Research Institute, Plaza De Cruces S/N, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: María D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Boyano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010455:Peptides / Q000097:blood*; D019096:Vitronectin / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D010455:Peptides; D019096:Vitronectin; C442243:dermcidin
keywords: clusterin; dermcidin; melanoma; plakoglobin; prognosis; serum amyloid A; serum markers; vitronectin