Expression of p16, CD95, CD95L and Helix pomatia agglutinin in relapsing and nonrelapsing very thin melanoma.

BACKGROUND

The incidence of malignant melanoma is increasing worldwide and patients are being diagnosed earlier with thinner primary lesions. Most patients with very thin melanoma (Breslow thickness < 0.76 mm) are cured by surgery but 2-18% relapse locally or with distant metastases.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to establish potential new prognostic markers in very thin melanoma.

METHODS

We identified a group of subjects with relapsing very thin primary cutaneous melanoma and a matched control group who had not relapsed. We investigated the expression of p16, Helix pomatia agglutinin (HPA), CD95 and CD95 ligand (CD95L) by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue sections from the subject group, their subsequent metastases and the control group.

RESULTS

Reduced p16 expression was significantly associated with relapse in very thin melanoma (P = 0.0129). Loss of p16 expression was also found in 76% of metastases. There was no significant association between HPA, CD95 or CD95L expression and subsequent relapse.

CONCLUSIONS

This work is the first to show a significant loss of p16 in relapsing very thin melanoma.