Clinical significance of serum caveolin-1 levels in melanoma patients.

Background: Caveolin-1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple malignancies, and its expression also strongly affects the outcomes of patients with cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of caveolin-1 in patients with melanoma.

Materials And Methods: A total of 60 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of melanoma were enrolled into this study. Serum caveolin-1 concentrations were determined by the solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Thirty age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included in the analysis.

Results: The median age at diagnosis was 53.5 years, range 16-88 years. The baseline serum caveolin-1 levels of the patients with melanoma were significantly higher than in those in the control group (0.47 vs. 0.37 ng/ml, respectively, P = 0.05). Known clinical variables, including age of patient, gender, site of lesion, histology, stage of disease, serum lactic dehydrogenase levels, and response to chemotherapy, were not found correlated with serum caveolin-1 concentrations (P > 0.05). Moreover, serum caveolin-1 concentration was found to have no prognostic role on survival (P = 0.44).

Conclusions: Serum levels of caveolin-1 may have a diagnostic marker in melanoma patients. However, its predictive and prognostic value was not determined.