Cofilin-1 immunocontent can upgrade the prognostic value of Breslow index for the prediction of metastasis occurrence in melanoma patients

BRACALENTE, CANDELARIA; CASTRO, MAURO A. A.; IBAÑEZ, IRENE L.; RINFLERCH, ADRIANA R.; KLAMT, FABIO; GRINGS, FRANCISCO M.; VOLONTERI, VICTORIA; DURÁN, HEBE

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC), la Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología (SAI) y la Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología (SAFIS) 2018; 2018

SAIC, SAI, SAFIS, Sociedad Argentina de Virología (SAV), NANOMED-ar, International Society of Neuroimmunomodulation, Society of Mucosal Immunology

Nowadays, histopathological criteria for melanocytic lesions are the mainstay prognostic factors for melanoma. However, there are cases in which these parameters fall short to predict melanoma spread. We aim to estimate the probability of a melanoma to metastasize as a function of both a conventional histopathological parameter (Breslow Index, BI), and a marker that we propose for metastasis prediction: cofilin-1 immunocontent levels since this protein is key for cell migration and tumor invasion. We performed this analysis using a Bayesian approach. Clinical and cofilin-1 datasets were obtained from a patients cohort diagnosed with malignant melanocytic lesions between 2000 and 2008 with at least 5 years of clinical follow-up.Low BI values exhibited wide variance to predict metastasis occurrence, while the differential diagnostic value of cofilin-1 confirmed BI diagnosis or resulted more precise to predict outcome. Particularly, the probability of metastasis estimation improved when cofilin-1 was combined with BI for specific cases, where BI displayed large uncertainties. Although further studies are needed in a larger cohort, our Bayesian analysis and the cofilin-1 determination provided statistically significant prognostic value in low BI melanomas, which could improve diagnostic, follow-up and treatment decision-making.