Mucosal Melanoma: a Literature Review.

Purpose Of Review: Mucosal melanoma is of great interest due to its aggressive behavior and less favorable prognosis. The literature is mainly case reports and case series. Here, we will collect the knowledge on mucosal melanoma from the last decade and review the literature.

Probing the repulsive core of the nucleon-nucleon interaction via the (4)He(e,e'pN) triple-coincidence reaction.

We studied simultaneously the (4)He(e,e'p), (4)He(e,e'pp), and (4)He(e,e'pn) reactions at Q(2)=2(GeV/c)(2) and x(B)>1, for an (e,e'p) missing-momentum range of 400 to 830  MeV/c. The knocked-out proton was detected in coincidence with a proton or neutron recoiling almost back to back to the missing momentum, leaving the residual A=2 system at low excitation energy. These data were used to identify two-nucleon short-range correlated pairs and to deduce their isospin structure as a function of missing momentum, in a region where the nucleon-nucleon (NN) force is expected to change from predominantly tensor to repulsive.

Automated digital volume measurement of melanoma metastases in sentinel nodes predicts disease recurrence and survival.

Aims: Total metastatic volume (TMV) is an important prognostic factor in melanoma sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) that avoids both the interobserver variation and unidirectional upstaging seen when using semi-quantitative size estimates. However, it is somewhat laborious for routine application. Our aim was to investigate whether digital image analysis can estimate TMV accurately in melanoma SLNs.

Intratumoral neutrophils and plasmacytoid dendritic cells indicate poor prognosis and are associated with pSTAT3 expression in AJCC stage I/II melanoma.

Background: Tumor cell and host immune cell interaction plays a key role in carcinogenesis. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is constitutively activated in cancer and believed to be an important mediator of tumor-induced immunosuppression. This paper aims to describe the prognostic impact of neutrophil and dendritic cell infiltration in primary melanoma and the association of this infiltration with activated STAT3 (pSTAT3) in primary melanoma cells.

Metastatic melanoma volume in sentinel nodes: objective stereology-based measurement predicts disease recurrence and survival.

Aims: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) status is the most important prognostic factor in intermediate thickness melanoma. The amount of metastatic disease in positive SLNs varies greatly between patients, and this tumour burden appears to influence the prognosis of node-positive patients. The aim was to use objective stereological techniques to correlate accurately total SLN tumour burden with recurrence and patient survival.

Macrophage markers in serum and tumor have prognostic impact in American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I/II melanoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic role of soluble CD163 (sCD163) in serum and macrophage infiltration in primary melanomas from patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I/II melanoma. The scavenger receptor CD163 is associated with anti-inflammatory macrophages, and it is shed from their surface.

Patients And Methods: Serum samples from 227 patients with stage I/II melanoma obtained before definitive surgery (baseline) and during 5 years of follow-up were analyzed for sCD163 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Extensive pathological analysis of selected melanoma sentinel lymph nodes: high metastasis detection rates at reduced workload.

Background: Extensive pathological workup of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in melanoma detects more patients with metastasis-positive SLNs than do routine protocols, but at the cost of high laboratory workloads. We aimed to design a protocol that reduced this workload without compromising metastasis detection.

Methods: We analyzed 920 SLNs from 321 consecutive patients with melanoma by complete step sectioning and immunohistochemistry.

Tumour-associated macrophages are related to progression in patients with metastatic melanoma following interleukin-2 based immunotherapy.

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether leukocyte subsets in peripheral blood and tumour biopsies obtained before treatment were able to predict response or survival in patients with metastatic melanoma following Interleukin-2 (IL-2) based immunotherapy. Flow cytometry was performed on peripheral blood for CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells and CD56(+) natural killer (NK) cells. Immunohistochemical analyses were used to identify CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells, CD57(+) NK cells and CD64(+) (macrophages) cells in tumour biopsies.

Circulating tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA does not independently predict relapse or survival in patients with AJCC stage I-II melanoma.

The detection of melanoma cells in peripheral blood has been proposed to select patients with a high risk of relapse. In this study, tyrosinase and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1) mRNA expression was evaluated in serial samples obtained before definitive surgery and during follow-up in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I-II melanoma. Serial samples (n=2,262) were collected from 236 patients from 1997 to 2002.

Serum YKL-40 predicts relapse-free and overall survival in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I and II melanoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the novel tumor biomarker YKL-40 in serial serum samples from patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I and II melanoma from the time of diagnosis and during routine follow-up. Macrophages, neutrophils, and cancer cells secrete YKL-40, and a high serum level has been associated with poor prognosis in patients with several cancer types.

Patients And Methods: Serum samples from 234 patients with stage I (n = 162) and II (n = 72) melanoma were analyzed for YKL-40 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Measurement of phosphorylated tau epitopes in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer disease: a comparative cerebrospinal fluid study.

Background: Abnormal hyperphosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein tau and its incorporation into neurofibrillary tangles are major hallmarks of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Different tau phosphoepitopes can be sensitively detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Objective: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of CSF concentrations of tau proteins phosphorylated at 3 pathophysiologically important epitopes (p-tau) to discriminate among patients with AD, nondemented control subjects, and patients with other dementias.

FURTHER STUDIES ON SPECIFIC TRANSPLANTATION ANTIGENS IN ROUS SARCOMA OF MICE.

Mice allografted with different sarcomas, induced by the Schmidt-Ruppin variant of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV-SR), showed a resistance against subsequent isografting of 9 different Rous sarcomas. Transplantation resistance could also be induced by Rous mouse tumor cells x-irradiated with 8000 r or with cell-free tumor extracts, containing no demonstrable virus. No transplantation resistance could be demonstrated after allograft pretreatment with various polyoma tumors or non-viral tumors.