This study aimed to investigate the role of AR-V7 in development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and to determine whether the AR-V7 expression in CRPC tissues can predict cancer-specific survival. We enrolled 100 localized prostate cancer (PCa) (cohort 1), 104 newly diagnosed metastatic PCa (cohort 2), and 46 CRPC (cohort 3) patients treated at our institution. The expression of AR-V7 in PCa was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Cox regression models were used to evaluate the predictive role of all covariates for the development of CRPC in cohort 2 and for cancer-specific survival in cohort 3. Time to CRPC and cancer-specific survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. AR-V7 expression rate in cohort 3 was significantly elevated compared with other two cohorts (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that AR-V7 was an independent predictive factor for CRPC development (HR = 2.627, p = 0.001) and for cancer specific survival (HR = 2.247, p = 0.033). Furthermore, the AR-V7 expression was associated with shorter survival in CRPC patients. Our results demonstrated protein AR-V7 levels in primary tumors can be used as a predictive marker for the development of CRPC and as a prognostic factor in CRPC patients. Therapy targeting AR-V7 may help prevent PCa progression and improve the prognosis of CRPC patients.

Acral melanoma (AM), as a peculiar subgroup of melanoma, is rare in Caucasians but has higher incidence in Asians. Large series of study on AM with clinicopathological features and prognostic factors is still limited, especially in Asian population. We retrospectively collected clinical, pathological and follow-up data of 142 AM cases. All patients were Chinese, with the age ranging from 24 to 87 years (mean 62.0; median 62.0). The Breslow thickness of primary lesions ranged from 0.6 to 16.3 mm (mean 4.9; median 3.7). 85.9% of the patients had acral lentiginous histologic subtype. Plantar was the most frequently involved site, followed by heels. Statistically, duration of the lesion before diagnosis (≤2.5 years), Breslow thickness >4.0 mm (T4), high mitotic index (>15 mm−2), presence of vascular invasion, regional lymph node metastasis at diagnosis and pathologic stage (II/III/IV) were found to be independent prognostic factors in both univariate and multivariate analyses. The prognosis of AM in Chinese is extremely poor. Our 5- and 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rates were 53.3% and 27.4%, respectively. Therefore, AM in Asians represents a more biologically aggressive melanoma subtype and is thought to carry a worse prognosis when compared with other races or cutaneous melanomas in other anatomic sites.

Endoscopic treatment can be attempted when the tumor is limited to the lamina propria mucosa. However, 2-field radical lymphadenectomy with careful upper mediastinal lymph node resection should be conducted for submucosal squamous cell carcinoma.