title: High ALDH1 expression correlates with better prognosis in tumorigenic malignant melanoma.
abstract: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) has been proposed as biomarker of stem cells for certain human cancers. ALDH1 expression has been correlated with poor patient outcomes in a variety of malignancies but better patient outcomes in others, and its prognostic significance in malignant melanoma is unclear. Thus, 68 melanoma patients with comprehensive clinical and pathologic follow-up data were used to construct a tissue microarray. A modified histological score (H-score) with a maximum score of 300 was used to quantify immunohistochemical staining for ALDH1. Survival time was defined as the time between diagnosis and melanoma-specific death. Using univariate logistic regression, a low (<80 H-score) ALDH1 score showed 3.7-fold increase in risk for melanoma-specific death within 10 years when compared with high (>80) ALDH1 levels (P=0.017). Odds of MSD were lower by a factor of ~0.9 for each 10-point increase in H-Score. Median survival time was 44.1 months and 180.9 months for patients with low and high ALDH1 expression, respectively. Using multivariate analysis, ALDH1 H-score was found to be an independent prognostic factor. These findings suggest that ALDH1 expression in malignant melanoma has a favorable effect on patient survival. Further study is needed elucidate the function of this enzymatic protein in melanoma progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology and Dermatology, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Peoria, IL.
authors.forename: Ronnie M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Emin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tahirovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Belle
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Linfang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Elder
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gimotty
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000096142:Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D007527:Isoenzymes; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; C510223:ALDH1A1 protein, human; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase