A prospective multicenter cohort study of cutaneous melanoma: clinical staging and potential associations with HIF-1 alpha and VEGF expressions

作者：Angel Martinez Garcia Miguel; Riveiro Falkenbach Erica; Rodriguez Peralto Jose L; Nagore Eduardo; Martorell Calatayud Antonio; Campos Rodriguez Francisco; Farre Ramon; Hernandez Blasco Luis; Banuls Roca Jose; Chiner Vives Eusebi; Sanchez de la Torre Alicia; Abad Capa Jorge; Maria Montserrat Josep; Almendros Isaac; Perez Gil Amalia; Cabriada Nuno Valentin; Cano Pumarega Irene; Corral Penafiel Jaime; Diaz Cambriles Trinidad; Mediano Olga; Dalmau Arias Joan; Gozal David^*

来源：Melanoma Research, 2017, 27(6): 558-564.

DOI：10.1097/CMR.0000000000000393

• hypoxia-inducible factor
• malignancy
• melanoma
• mitotic index
• vascular endothelial growth factor

Melanoma is a highly prevalent cancer that is associated with substantial mortality. Although clinical staging procedures can serve as relatively robust prognostic indicators, we aimed to determine whether assessments of the abundance of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in postexcisional melanoma tumor tissues may enable more accurate determination of tumor aggressiveness. We carried out a multicenter prospective study, in which we systematically evaluated 376 consecutive patients diagnosed with melanoma, and performed histochemical assessments for both HIF-1 alpha and VEGF immunoreactivity in the tumor biopsies. Multivariate analyses showed that higher HIF-1 alpha expression, but not high VEGF, were associated significantly and independently with increased tumor aggressiveness as derived from several well-established aggressiveness criteria. A limitation of this study was that this was a descriptive prospective study lacking a post-hoc verification arm. Thus, the presence of increased numbers of positively labeled HIF-1 alpha cells in melanoma tumors may potentially serve as an indicator of tumor phenotype and prognosis, and accordingly guide therapy.

• 出版日期2017-12