Epidemiology of Keratinocyte Skin Cancer with a Focus on Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Keratinocyte skin cancer, consisting of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), is by far the most common cancer in white-skinned populations, with rapid increases over the last 50 years. While the age-standardized incidence rates increase worldwide, the age-standardized mortality rates are variable. The incidence rates of keratinocyte skin cancer are much higher compared to those of melanoma, and are largely attributed to the raising exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the most important causal risk factor for skin cancer.

Prognosis in stage II melanoma of the head and neck depends on the histological subtype.

Background And Objectives: The melanoma guideline is mainly based on the AJCC stage. There is no difference according to histological subtypes such as superficial spreading melanoma (SSM), lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) or nodular malignant melanoma (NM). We aimed to evaluate whether patients with LMM have a different clinical course from patients with SSM/NM.

Deep learning-based scoring of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes is prognostic in primary melanoma and predictive to PD-1 checkpoint inhibition in melanoma metastases.

Background: Recent advances in digital pathology have enabled accurate and standardised enumeration of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Here, we aim to evaluate TILs as a percentage electronic TIL score (eTILs) and investigate its prognostic and predictive relevance in cutaneous melanoma.

Methods: We included stage I to IV cutaneous melanoma patients and used hematoxylin-eosin-stained slides for TIL analysis.

Features and Long-Term Outcomes of Stage IV Melanoma Patients Achieving Complete Response Under Anti-PD-1-Based Immunotherapy.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has changed the melanoma treatment spectrum. Few studies have examined the characteristics and long-term outcomes of patients achieving complete response (CR) under ICI.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated patients with unresectable stage IV melanoma treated with first-line ICI.

Incidence, mortality and trends of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland.

Aim Of The Study: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) incidences are increasing but scarcely available separated. We analysed incidence rates of cSCC over three decades with an extrapolation to 2040.

Methods: Cancer registries from the Netherlands, Scotland and two federal states of Germany (Saarland/Schleswig-Holstein) were sourced for separate cSCC incidence data.

Identification of stage I/II melanoma patients at high risk for recurrence using a model combining clinicopathologic factors with gene expression profiling (CP-GEP).

Purpose: Patients with cutaneous melanoma stage I/IIA disease are currently not eligible for adjuvant therapy, despite their risk for relapses and death. This study validates the ability of a model combining clinicopathologic factors with gene expression profiling (CP-GEP) to identify patients at high risk for disease recurrence in stage I/II and subgroup stage I/IIA.

Patients And Methods: 543 patients with stage I/II primary cutaneous melanoma from the University of Tuebingen diagnosed between 2000 and 2017 were analysed.

Reporting of melanoma cell densities in the sentinel node refines outcome prediction.

Introduction: Sentinel node biopsy is a key procedure to predict prognosis in melanoma. In a prospective study we compare reporting on melanoma cell densities in cytospin preparations with semiquantitative histopathology for predicting outcome.

Patients And Methods: Sentinel nodes from 900 melanoma patients were bisected.

Prognosis of Patients With Primary Melanoma Stage I and II According to American Joint Committee on Cancer Version 8 Validated in Two Independent Cohorts: Implications for Adjuvant Treatment.

Purpose: The first randomized trial of adjuvant treatment with checkpoint inhibitor in stage II melanoma reported a significant reduction in risk of tumor recurrence. This study evaluates two independent data sets to further document survival probabilities for patients with primary stage I and II melanoma.

Patients And Methods: The Central Malignant Melanoma Registry (CMMR) in Germany evaluated 17,544 patients with a primary diagnosis of stage I and II melanoma from 2000 to 2015.

Real-world Treatment Patterns and Outcomes with Systemic Therapies in Unresectable Locally Advanced and Metastatic Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Germany.

Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a challenge to treat. Conventional systemic treatment options include chemotherapy and epidermal growth factor receptor-inhibitors. The aim of this study was to assess clinical outcomes with systemic treatments in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Cutaneous melanoma attributable to UVR exposure in Denmark and Germany.

Background: Increasing incidence rates of cutaneous melanoma (CM) observed during the last five decades in white populations are largely attributed to increased exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), often expressed as population attributable fraction (PAF). Thus, many CMs could be prevented by reducing UVR exposure. The aim of this study was to estimate the PAF of CM attributable to UVR exposure and demographic changes in Denmark and Saarland/Germany for the period 1943 to 2036.

Diffuse PRAME Expression Is Highly Specific for Thin Melanomas in the Distinction from Severely Dysplastic Nevi but Does Not Distinguish Metastasizing from Non-Metastasizing Thin Melanomas.

Background: PReferentially expressed Antigen in MElanoma (PRAME) immunohistochemistry is increasingly used as diagnostic adjunct in the evaluation of melanocytic tumors. The expression and prognostic significance of PRAME in melanomas ≤1.0 mm and its diagnostic utility in the distinction from severely dysplastic compound nevi (SDN) have not been studied.

Epidemiology of cutaneous melanoma and keratinocyte cancer in white populations 1943-2036.

Objectives: Cutaneous melanoma (CM) and keratinocyte cancer (KC) cause considerable morbidity and mortality. We analysed long-term trends of CM and KC in different white populations.

Material And Methods: Age-standardised (European Standard Population 2013) incidence and mortality rates (ASIR, ASMR) of CM were extracted from cancer registries in Denmark, New Zealand and the US SEER-Database.

Immune checkpoint inhibition therapy for advanced skin cancer in patients with concomitant hematological malignancy: a retrospective multicenter DeCOG study of 84 patients.

Background: Skin cancers are known for their strong immunogenicity, which may contribute to a high treatment efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI). However, a considerable proportion of patients with skin cancer is immuno-compromised by concomitant diseases. Due to their previous exclusion from clinical trials, the ICI treatment efficacy is poorly investigated in these patients.

Epidemiology of Skin Cancer: Update 2019.

Melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancer (KSC) are the most common types of cancer in White-skinned populations. Both tumor entities showed increasing incidence rates worldwide but stable or decreasing mortality rates. Rising incidence rates of cutaneous melanoma (CM) and KSC are largely attributed to increasing exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the main causal risk factor for skin cancer.

Dermatofluoroscopy diagnostics in different pigmented skin lesions: Strengths and weaknesses.

Background: The melanin fluorescence of skin lesions is measurable with two-photon excitation, a process termed dermatofluoroscopy, which has shown a shift from the green spectra in benign melanocytic lesions to the red spectra in melanoma. This study addressed the question as to which kind of pigmented lesions can be correctly diagnosed as melanin-bearing malignant tumors.

Methods: 476 pigmented lesions including 101 cutaneous melanomas were analyzed with dermatofluoroscopy, measuring the melanin fluorescence in a grid-like fashion with a separation of measurement points of 0.

Prognosis of Patients With Stage III Melanoma According to American Joint Committee on Cancer Version 8: A Reassessment on the Basis of 3 Independent Stage III Melanoma Cohorts.

Purpose: Three new therapies have been approved recently for the adjuvant treatment of stage III melanoma, substantially reducing the risk of tumor recurrences. This study evaluates 3 independent data sets to clarify the survival probabilities of patients with stage III melanoma.

Patients And Methods: The Central Malignant Melanoma Registry (CMMR) evaluated 1,553 patients with a primary diagnosis of stage III melanoma from 2000 to 2012.

Primary Resistance to PD-1-Based Immunotherapy-A Study in 319 Patients with Stage IV Melanoma.

Background: Primary resistance to immunotherapy can be observed in approximately 40-65% of the stage IV melanoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. A minority of the patients receive a second-line therapy, and the clinical benefit is small.

Patients And Methods: Stage IV melanoma patients treated with first-line PD-1-based immunotherapy between January 2015 and December 2018 were investigated.

Melanoma-specific survival in patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes: Relevance of sentinel tumor burden.

Background: The tumor burden within the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is not included in the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee of Cancer (AJCC) melanoma classification. Therefore, we analysed the prognostic relevance of the SLN tumor burden in the stage III subgroups.

Patients And Methods: A total of 736 patients with melanoma with positive SLN and long-term follow-up (mean, 64.

Final Analysis of DeCOG-SLT Trial: No Survival Benefit for Complete Lymph Node Dissection in Patients With Melanoma With Positive Sentinel Node.

Purpose: We have previously reported on the 3-year results of the phase III German Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group trial (DeCOG; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02434107) comparing distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) in patients with positive sentinel lymph-node biopsy who were randomly assigned to complete lymph node dissection (CLND) or observation. Here, we report the final analysis with 72 months of median follow up.

Tumor mutation burden and circulating tumor DNA in combined CTLA-4 and PD-1 antibody therapy in metastatic melanoma - results of a prospective biomarker study.

Background: Metastasized or unresectable melanoma has been the first malignant tumor to be successfully treated with checkpoint inhibitors. Nevertheless, about 40-50% of the patients do not respond to these treatments and severe side effects are observed in up to 60%. Therefore, there is a high need to identify reliable biomarkers predicting response.

Distinct Clinicopathological and Prognostic Features of Thin Nodular Primary Melanomas: An International Study from 17 Centers.

Background: Nodular melanoma (NM) is more likely to be fatal compared with other melanoma subtypes, an effect attributed to its greater Breslow thickness.

Methods: Clinicopathological features of NM and superficial spreading melanoma (SSM) diagnosed in 17 centers in Europe (n = 15), the United States, and Australia between 2006 and 2015, were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression analysis, with emphasis on thin (T1 ≤ 1.0 mm) melanomas.

Age as key factor for pattern, timing, and extent of distant metastasis in patients with cutaneous melanoma: A study of the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry.

Background: Melanoma incidence rates rise as people age, but the impact of aging on distant metastasis is unclear.

Objective: To investigate how timing, pattern, and extent of distant metastasis is influenced by age.

Methods: Analysis of a single-center cohort of 1457 patients of the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry with prospectively documented follow-up.

Immunotherapy plus surgery/radiosurgery is associated with favorable survival in patients with melanoma brain metastasis.

Aim: Melanoma brain metastases (MBM) are associated with a dismal prognosis. Few clinical trials evaluated the impact of immunotherapy (IT) and targeted therapy (TT) alone or in combination with surgery and radiotherapy in this population.

Patients & Methods: Retrospective analysis of data from 163 patients diagnosed with MBM between January 2014 and December 2016.