Recent data suggested an increased frequency of KIT aberrations in mucosal melanomas, whereas c-KIT in most types of cutaneous melanomas does not appear to be of pathogenetic importance. However, studies investigating the status of the KIT gene in larger, well-characterised groups of patients with mucosal melanomas are lacking. We analysed 44 archival specimens of 39 wellcharacterised patients with mucosal melanomas of different locations. c-KIT protein expression was determined by immunhistochemistry, KIT gene mutations were analysed by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of exons 9, 11, 13, 17 and 18. c-KIT protein expression could be shown in 40 out of 44 (91%) tumours in at least 10% of tumour cells. DNA sequence analysis of the KIT was successfully performed in 37 patients. In 6 out of 37 patients (16%) KIT mutations were found, five in exon 11 and one in exon 18. The presence of mutations in exon 11 correlated with a significant stronger immunohistochemical expression of c-KIT protein (P ¼ 0.015). Among the six patients with mutations, in two patients the primary tumour was located in the head/neck region, in three patients in the genitourinary tract and in one patient in the anal/rectal area. In conclusion, KIT mutations can be found in a subset of patients with mucosal melanomas irrespective of the location of the primary tumour. Our data encourage therapeutic attempts with tyrosine kinase inhibitors blocking c-KIT in these patients. British Journal of Cancer (2008) (Chang et al, 1998) and have mainly been described in the head and neck region, the genitourinary tract and the gastrointestinal tract.Obviously, sun exposure does not play a role in mucosal melanoma, whereas it is a risk factor in cutaneous melanoma. A recent study described genetic differences between mucosal melanomas and cutaneous melanomas. In this study, four types of melanomas were differentiated, that is, mucosal melanomas, acral melanomas, melanomas on skin with chronic sun damage and melanomas on skin without chronic sun damage. Melanomas arising from skin without chronic sun damage, representing the major group of cutaneous melanomas, were shown to frequently harbour BRAF mutations, in particular the BRAF V600E mutation. The other melanoma types, including mucosal melanoma, had a high frequency of mutations of the KIT gene (Curtin et al, 2005(Curtin et al, , 2006. This finding is in particular intriguing as it may represent a rationale for a targeted therapy with specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as c-KIT blockers in mucosal melanomas. To further elucidate the role of c-KIT and BRAF in mucosal melanoma, we analysed these two targets in 39 patients with mucosal melanomas treated in our Department. MATERIALS AND METHODS PatientsThirty nine patients with mucosal melanomas who were treated in our Department (Skin Cancer Center Hannover) from 1996 to 2007 were retrospectively analysed. A total of 44 archival formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue samples (35 primary melanomas, 4 lymph node metastases, 2 skin metastases and ...

Mucosal melanomas represent a rare entity with different risk factors and molecular features compared to cutaneous melanomas. They arise most commonly from mucosal surfaces in the head/neck region, the female genital tract (FGT) and the anorectal region. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinics, prognosis, and treatment options of patients with mucosal melanoma, in particular with regard to different primary sites.We retrospectively analyzed 75 patients with mucosal melanomas diagnosed in the years 1993 to 2015 in our department. The primary melanomas were located in the head/neck region (n = 32), the FGT (n = 24), and the anorectal region (n = 19).The median age of the patients was 66 years. At initial diagnosis the primary melanoma was not completely resectable in 11 (15%) patients, 18 (24%) patients had regional lymph node metastases, and 7 (9%) patients distant metastases. During follow-up, 22 (29%) patients suffered from a local recurrence, in particular patients with primary melanoma in the head/neck region without postoperative radiotherapy. By multivariate analysis location of the primary melanoma in the head/neck area or anorectal region and presence of metastases at time of diagnosis represented poor prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival. In 62 tested individuals 7 KIT mutations were found, 2 BRAF mutations in 57 tested patients. Four patients received targeted therapies, 14 checkpoint inhibitors, 4 (1/1 on vemurafenib, 1/7 on ipilimumab, and 2/7 on PD-1 inhibitors) patients showed responses of more than 100 days duration.Mucosal melanomas are often locally advanced or metastatic at initial diagnosis, thus they require extensive staging procedures. The high rate of local recurrences in the head/neck region can be significantly reduced by postoperative radiotherapy. For the potential use of medical treatment a mutation analysis for KIT and BRAF genes should be performed. The use of new immunologic and targeted therapies has to be further evaluated.

4. SIRAGANIAN RP. Automated histamine analysis for in vitro allergy testing. II. Correlation of skin test results with in vitro whole blood histamine release in 82 patients. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1977;59:214. 5. LEBEL B, MESSAAD D, SAHLA H, et al. Usefulness of histamine release for the diagnosis of drug allergy.

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