Anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and fear of cancer progression in patients with melanoma in cancer aftercare.

Unlabelled: Several studies have described mental distress and anxiety in patients with melanoma. The findings of these studies varied from patients with a quality of life similar to the general population and those with increased mental distress. In the present study, we investigated anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and fear of cancer progression to gain a detailed picture of the burdens of these patients.

Quantitative detection of soluble adhesion molecules in sera of melanoma patients correlates with clinical stage.

Background: Adhesion is crucial in the metastatic process of malignant tumours. Recently, the expression of certain selectins on intratumoral vessels has been shown to be associated with the clinical outcome of melanoma patients.

Objectives And Methods: For the first time, this study examines the serum concentrations of circulating soluble vascular cellular adhesion molecule 1 (CD 106), endothelial leucocyte adhesion molecule (CD62E), sP-selectin (CD62P) and sCD44v5 in comparison to soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1, CD54) in a series of 34 melanoma patients at different clinical stages and 11 normal donors using ELISA:

Results: sICAM-1 and sP-selectin levels were statistically elevated in all subgroups of melanoma patients compared to controls (p < 0.

Serum manganese superoxide dismutase is a new tumour marker for malignant melanoma.

Malignant melanoma in its disseminated stage is incurable. The most widely accepted criteria for the prognostic evaluation of melanoma are histopathological and clinical parameters, and the identification of additional simple, serological tumour markers is thus of paramount importance. Manganese-containing superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) belongs to a family of metalloproteins that catalyse the metabolization of oxygen radicals in order to protect these cells from radical damage.