Mitotic rate and S-phase fraction as prognostic factors in stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma

Abstract

the most significant predictors of recurrence-free (RFS) and overall survival. In Cox's multivariate analysis, tumour thickness (P = 0.0021), bleeding (P = 0.01 06) and MN index (P = 0.0058) predicted poor RFS in the 259 patients available for the analysis. Poor overall survival was predicted by MAI (P = 0.0002), bleeding (P = 0.004), SPF (P = 0.009) and male gender (P = 0.034). The present results indicate that mitotic activity index (MAI), volumecorrected mitotic index (MN index) and S-phase fraction (SPF) are important prognostic factors in addition to the well-established Breslow thickness in stage cutaneous malignant melanoma.

Human melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene variants alter melanoma cell growth and adhesion to extracellular matrix

“…Results (mean and s.e.m.) are presented as a percentage of the total cells adhering after incubation with media alone Proliferation of abnormal melanocytes/melanoma cells is important for early tumour development and subsequent tumour progression, and the rate of proliferation (as measured by the mitotic index, S phase fraction, and percentage Ki67 positivity) is recognized as an important prognostic factor in this neoplasm (Moretti et al, 1990;Ramsay et al, 1995;Karjalainen et al, 1998). Previous research has shown that aMSH (and aMSH analogues) can suppress melanoma cell proliferation (Legros et al, 1981;Jiang et al, 1995;Smalley and Eisen, 2000), but our results demonstrate an aMSH-induced reduction in proliferation in the wild type MC1R transfected cell lines, whereas this decrease in cell numbers was not observed in the variant MC1R transfected melanoma cells.…”

Molecular diagnostics in melanoma

“…115 J AM ACAD DERMATOL VOLUME 52,NUMBER 5 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes). For example, tumor thickness and mitotic rate reflect the degree of cellular proliferation, a process representing the balance between cell birth (eg, growth fraction [139][140][141][142] and cell death (apoptosis) influenced by cell-cycle regulatory proteins (eg, loss p16 INK4a and apoptotic regulatory proteins 143,144 [eg, loss of apoptotic protease activating factor-1 145,146 ]). Tumor thickness is also influenced by the degree to which tumor cells can invade the dermis and maintain an adequate blood supply, processes governed by proteolytic enzymes (eg, matrix metalloproteinase [MMP]-2 expression [Gelatinase A]), 147 intercellular adhesion molecules (eg, gain of N-cadherin expression and loss of E-cadherin expression), and angiogenic growth factors/angiogenesis (eg, expression of VEGF).…”

Prognosticators of melanoma, the melanoma report, and the sentinel lymph node

“…98 Mitotic rate and S-phase fraction proved to correlate independently with survivorship in one multivariate analysis. 99 Lymph node status and the sentinel lymph node biopsy Survival from melanoma drops progressively from 90% at 10 years for Stage I to 10% at 10 years for Stage IV disease. The major independent variable predicting survivorship in thick (ie 44.0 mm in depth) melanoma is the presence or absence of micrometastatic disease in the sentinel lymph node.…”