Regression of nevi, vitiligo-like depigmentation and halo phenomenon may indicate response to immunotherapy and targeted therapy in melanoma
We present two patients with stage IV melanoma, the first with BRAF wild-type melanoma with multiple visceral metastases treated with immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) and the second with BRAFV600E melanoma with subcutaneous and lymph nodes metastasis treated with BRAF and MEK-inhibitors (dabrafenib/trametinib). Already after the second cycle of immunotherapy, the first patient developed a diffuse regression of nevi, perceptible only with the use of dermoscopy and 3 months later a clinically evident poliosis of the eyebrows. The second patient, treated with dabrafenib/trametinib, developed small areas of leukoderma on his ch...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Short Communications: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Nivolumab exposure in a hemodialysis patient with metastatic melanoma
The effect of intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) on nivolumab serum concentrations in patients with severe renal impairment is largely unknown. Here, we present a 79-year-old patient with metastatic melanoma and end-stage renal disease on IHD three times a week, treated with 480 mg nivolumab every 4 weeks. A serum trough concentration of nivolumab was determined before the start of the third cycle, and two samples were taken immediately before and after a hemodialysis session during this cycle. All nivolumab serum concentrations were within a similar range as those previously measured among patients without renal insuffic...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Short Communications: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Retrospective analysis of adjuvant therapy using dabrafenib plus trametinib in Japanese patients with advanced melanoma: analysis of 36 cases
Patients with resected stage IIIB, IIIC and IIID melanomas have a high risk of recurrence. Therefore, an appropriate protocol for stage III melanoma is needed. Since adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib (D+T) combined therapy and anti-PD1 antibody (Ab) therapy reduce the risk of recurrence in patients with resected stage III BRAF-mutated melanoma, selecting the adjuvant therapy for BRAF-mutated melanoma is controversial. The efficacy and safety profiles of D+T combined therapy in the adjuvant setting were retrospectively analyzed in 36 Japanese. BRAF-mutated advanced melanoma patients. The relapse-free rate (RFR) at 12 mont...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Clinical Research Source Type: research
A novel prognostic biomarker for cutaneous malignant melanoma: red cell distribution width (RDW) to lymphocyte ratio
It is well-known that inflammation plays a significant role in cancer formation and prognosis. Both lymphocyte count and red cell distribution width (RDW) has been used to predict prognosis in various cancers as an indicator of inflammation. Yet, the role of RDW-lymphocyte ratio (RLR) in determining prognosis is still unknown. We aimed to determine the prognostic role of RLR in cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM). One hundred fifteen patients with MM were included in the study retrospectively. The relationship of the clinical-pathological data with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) was analyzed using ...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Ultra-high-frequency ultrasound monitoring of melanomas arising in congenital melanocytic nevi: a case series
The aims of our study were to evaluate with ultra-high-frequency ultrasound (UHFUS) the ultrasound features of congenital melanocytic nevi (CMNs) and malignant melanomas (MMs) arising in CMNs and the correlation between ultrasonographic thickness and histological thickness in MMs. We evaluated 10 patients with small-medium CMNs and 10 patients with MMs arising in small-medium CMNs. We collected patient’s data, clinical and dermoscopic features. The UHFUS was performed using a 70 MHz frequency probe to study the ecostructure, shape and vascularization. Breslow thickness was compared with ultrasonographic thickness. In the...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Risk factors in pediatric melanoma: a retrospective study of 39 cases
The objective of our study was then to identify the possible risk factors for the development of melanoma in the pediatric population. We performed a retrospective study conducted in the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit and Unit of Dermatology (Livorno, Italy). We analyzed a population of 38 children under 21 years with a diagnosis of melanoma. This population was compared with a control population of 114 children followed up in our dermatologic clinic. From our combined univariate-multivariate statistics analysis, the number of nevi [regression coefficient (RC) of 1.04 and odds ratio (OR) of 2.8 confidence interval (Cl, 1....
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Prospective study of clinical characteristics of melanoma patients with retinopathy caused by a high-dose interferon α-2b
Retinopathy is a rare side effect of interferon α-2b treatment. The goal of this study was to prospectively investigate the clinical characteristics of Chinese patients with melanomas who developed retinopathy following high doses of interferon α-2b (HD-IFN) therapy. The study included 56 melanoma stage I–III patients that were treated with HD-IFN. Fourty-three patients developed HD-IFN-induced retinopathies. Forty-three melanoma patients (76%) developed retinopathy after being treated with HD-IFN. Among these patients, 49% had cotton–wool spots, 19% had retinal hemorrhage, and 30% had retinal hemorrhage. The median ...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Diagnostic and prognostic value of Beclin 1 expression in melanoma: a meta-analysis
Autophagy plays a complicated role in the occurrence and development of cancer. Beclin 1 is a significant autophagy-related protein that plays an essential role in tumorigenesis, but its expression is controversial in melanoma. In this meta-analysis, we searched seven studies involving 638 melanoma patients. PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Elsevier, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were used for literature retrieval. The I2 index was used to assess heterogeneity. The expression of Beclin 1 in the primary melanoma group was significantly lower than the non-tumor group tissues (P (Source: Melanoma Research)
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Translational Research Source Type: research
Machine learning for the identification of decision boundaries during the transition from radial to vertical growth phase superficial spreading melanomas
The objective of this study was to compute threshold values for the diameter of superficial spreading melanomas (SSMs) at which the radial growth phase (RGP) evolves into an invasive vertical growth phase (VGP). We examined reports from 1995 to 2019 of 834 primary SSMs. All the patients underwent complete surgical removal of the tumor and the diagnosis was confirmed after histologic examination. Machine learning was used to compute the thresholds. For invasive non-naevus-associated SSMs, a threshold for the diameter was found at 13.2 mm (n = 634). For the lower limb (n = 209) the threshold was at 9.8 mm, whereas fo...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Translational Research Source Type: research
Novel strategy for applying hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise towards spectroscopic analysis and detection of melanocytic lesions
This study explores the applications of hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (HDBSCAN) in terms of the direct diagnostic implications of applying agglomerative clustering in the spectroscopic analysis of malignant melanocytic lesions and benign dermatologic spots. 100 images of benign (n = 50) and malignant moles (n = 50) were sampled from the International Skin Imaging Collaboration Archive and processed through two separate Python algorithms. The first of which deconvolutes the three-digit tupled integer identifiers of pixel color in image composition into three separate matric...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Translational Research Source Type: research
Lower melanoma pulmonary metastatic burden in obese mice: role of FGF-21
Obesity is a risk factor for malignant melanoma. The lungs are main target organs for metastization and their immune response is a key modulator of this mechanism. The concept that the metastatic potential of some types of cancer is reduced or inhibited by obesity, known as the obesity paradox, drives major concerns on the prognosis of metastasized patients. The aim of this study was to investigate how high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity affects melanoma metastization. C57Bl6/J mice were fed with HFD or standard diet for 180 days and inoculated intravenously with B16F10 melanoma cells. Upon 21 days of inoculation, lung tis...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Basic Science Source Type: research
The potential of using artificial intelligence to improve skin cancer diagnoses in Hawai‘i’s multiethnic population
Skin cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the USA with more than 1 million new cases each year. Melanomas account for about 1% of all skin cancers and most skin cancer deaths. Multiethnic individuals whose skin is pigmented underestimate their risk for skin cancers and melanomas and may delay seeking a diagnosis. The use of artificial intelligence may help improve the diagnostic precision of dermatologists/physicians to identify malignant lesions. To validate our artificial intelligence’s efficiency in distinguishing between images, we utilized 50 images obtained from our International Skin Imaging Collab...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original articles: Basic Science Source Type: research
Targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 as a therapeutic approach for mucosal melanoma
Mucosal melanoma is a rare but devastating subtype of melanoma which typically has a worse prognosis than other melanoma subtypes. Large-scale next-generation sequencing studies, including our recent research, have also proved that the molecular landscape and potential oncogenic drivers of mucosal melanoma remain distinct from that of cutaneous melanoma. Recently, a number of selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4)/6 inhibitors have been approved for clinical application in breast cancer or entered phase III clinical trial in other solid tumors. Additionally, we have revealed that the dysregulation of cell cycle progres...
Source: Melanoma Research - November 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Review Article Source Type: research
COVID-19 vaccination mimicking lymph-node progression in a patient with melanoma: a case report
This report presents a 50-year-old man with a history of stage IIA cutaneous melanoma. During follow-up, the patient experienced subcutaneous and lymph-node disease progression, documented with 18FDG PET/CT scan. The patient underwent laparoscopic left para-aortic lymphadenectomy and excision of subcutaneous lesion. Histologic examination showed presence of melanoma metastases in 2 lymph nodes out of total 17 excised and neoplastic emboli to the subcutaneous tissue. In view of starting adjuvant nivolumab, the patient underwent CT scan restaging, with evidence of suspect centimetric periaortic and paracaval lymph nodes, whi...
Source: Melanoma Research - September 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Short Communications: Clinical Research Source Type: research
Aseptic cystitis induced by nivolumab and ipilimumab combination for metastatic melanoma
We report the first case of aseptic cystitis induced by ipilimumab and nivolumab combination in a 61-year-old melanoma patient. She described after two infusions, diarrhea, pollakiuria, intense bladder pain, urinary urgency, and nocturia. Repeated negative urine culture tests led to perform cystoscopy. Mucosal bladder biopsies showed lymphocytic T-cells infiltration in intraepithelial and in subepithelial connective tissue, which were consistent with the diagnosis of immune-related aseptic cystitis. Aseptic cystitis is a rare and poorly known side-effect related to ICI. Only four other cases with anti-PD1 monotherapy were ...
Source: Melanoma Research - September 10, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Short Communications: Clinical Research Source Type: research
