TY - JOUR
T1 - Immune biomarkers are more accurate in prediction of survival in ulcerated than in non-ulcerated primary melanomas
AU - de Moll, Ellen H.
AU - Fu, Yichun
AU - Qian, Yingzhi
AU - Perkins, Sara H.
AU - Wieder, Shira
AU - Gnjatic, Sacha
AU - Remark, Romain
AU - Bernardo, Sebastian G.
AU - Moskalenko, Marina
AU - Yao, Jonathan
AU - Ferringer, Tammie
AU - Chang, Rui
AU - Chipuk, Jerry
AU - Horst, Basil A.
AU - Birge, Miriam B.
AU - Phelps, Robert G.
AU - Saenger, Yvonne M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/9/21
Y1 - 2015/9/21
N2 - Introduction: Ulcerated melanomas may have a unique biology and microenvironment. We test whether markers of immune infiltration correlate with clinical outcome in ulcerated compared to non-ulcerated primary melanoma tumors. Methods: Sixty-two stage II–III cutaneous melanomas, 32 ulcerated and 30 non-ulcerated, were analyzed for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed for CD2, a marker previously shown to correlate with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in this patient population. IHC using antibody, VE1, to BRAF V600E was also performed on a subset of 41 tumors to assess the relationship of BRAF mutation to immune markers. Results: We found, using Cox regression models, that the presence of TILs was associated with improved OS (p = 0.034) and RFS (p = 0.002) in ulcerated melanoma tumors, but not in non-ulcerated melanoma (p = 0.632, 0.416). CD2 expression also was correlated with improved OS (p = 0.021) and RFS (p = 0.001) in ulcerated melanoma, but no relationship was seen in non-ulcerated melanoma (p = 0.427, 0.682). In this small population, BRAF status did not correlate with TILs or CD2+ count. Conclusion: Our data show that immune markers including TILs and CD2 count correlate more closely with survival in ulcerated melanomas than that in non-ulcerated melanomas. We propose that immune biomarkers may be particularly relevant to ulcerated, as compared to non-ulcerated, melanomas and that this merits study in larger populations.
AB - Introduction: Ulcerated melanomas may have a unique biology and microenvironment. We test whether markers of immune infiltration correlate with clinical outcome in ulcerated compared to non-ulcerated primary melanoma tumors. Methods: Sixty-two stage II–III cutaneous melanomas, 32 ulcerated and 30 non-ulcerated, were analyzed for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed for CD2, a marker previously shown to correlate with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in this patient population. IHC using antibody, VE1, to BRAF V600E was also performed on a subset of 41 tumors to assess the relationship of BRAF mutation to immune markers. Results: We found, using Cox regression models, that the presence of TILs was associated with improved OS (p = 0.034) and RFS (p = 0.002) in ulcerated melanoma tumors, but not in non-ulcerated melanoma (p = 0.632, 0.416). CD2 expression also was correlated with improved OS (p = 0.021) and RFS (p = 0.001) in ulcerated melanoma, but no relationship was seen in non-ulcerated melanoma (p = 0.427, 0.682). In this small population, BRAF status did not correlate with TILs or CD2+ count. Conclusion: Our data show that immune markers including TILs and CD2 count correlate more closely with survival in ulcerated melanomas than that in non-ulcerated melanomas. We propose that immune biomarkers may be particularly relevant to ulcerated, as compared to non-ulcerated, melanomas and that this merits study in larger populations.
KW - Biomarker
KW - CD2
KW - Melanoma
KW - Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
KW - Ulceration
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U2 - 10.1007/s00262-015-1726-0
DO - 10.1007/s00262-015-1726-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 26076664
AN - SCOPUS:84939575156
SN - 0340-7004
VL - 64
SP - 1193
EP - 1203
JO - Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
JF - Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
IS - 9
ER -