Validation of melanoma immune profile (MIP), a prognostic immune gene prediction score for stage II–III melanoma

Purpose: Biomarkers are needed to stratify patients with standard univariable and multivariable Cox proportional stage II–III melanoma for clinical trials of adjuvant therapy hazards models. because, while immunotherapy is protective, it also confers the Results: MIP significantly distinguished patients with dis-risk of severe toxicity. We previously defined and validated a tant metastatic recurrence from those without distant meta-53-immune gene melanoma immune profile (MIP) predictive static recurrence using ROC curve analysis (AUC ¼ 0.695; P ¼ both of distant metastatic recurrence and of disease-specific 0.008). We defined high- and low-risk groups based on the survival (DSS). Here, we test MIP on a third independent cutoff defined by this ROC curve and find that MIP correlates population. with both DSS and overall survival by ROC curve analysis Experimental Design: A retrospective cohort of 78 (AUC ¼ 0.719; P ¼ 0.004 and AUC ¼ 0.698; P ¼ 0.004, patients with stage II–III primary melanoma was analyzed respectively). Univariable Cox regression reveals that a high-using the NanoString assay to measure expression of 53 risk MIP score correlates with DSS (P ¼ 0.015; HR ¼ 3.2). target genes, and MIP score was calculated. Statistical anal-Conclusions: MIP identifies patients with low risk of death ysis correlating MIP with DSS, overall survival, distant from melanoma and may constitute a clinical tool to stratify metastatic recurrence, and distant metastasis-free interval patients with stage II–III melanoma for enrollment in clinical was performed using ROC curves, Kaplan–Meier curves, and trials.