Article Text
Abstract
Aims It has been proposed that the expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors by melanoma cells may have a role in tumour immune escape. Chemokine CCL27 is reported to be expressed specifically on the epidermal keratinocytes. The implication of CCL27 in cutaneous melanomas is currently unresolved. It has been suggested that CCL27 expression in melanomas can induce antitumoral immunity, and that CCL27 may suppress tumour growth probably due to the local lymphocyte recruitment.
Methods We studied CCL27 chemokine expression in three different concentric epidermal areas covering the primary cutaneous melanoma in patients with a long clinical follow-up. Our study included 91 cases of primary melanomas of the skin diagnosed during the 10-year period 1992–2002, and a minimum clinical follow-up of 10 years.
Results We evaluated three different concentric and easily reproducible areas in the epidermis: the area covering melanoma (which we called ‘supratumoral’), the area adjacent to the tumour (‘peritumoral’) and the most peripheral epidermal area (‘peripheral’). Only CCL27 expression in supratumoral epidermis correlated with clinical outcome.
Conclusions Our study showed that a higher immunostaining of CCL27 in supratumoral epidermis is associated with longer progression-free interval and melanoma-specific survival.
- MELANOMA
- CYTOKINES
- DERMATOPATHOLOGY
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Footnotes
Handling editor Cheok Soon Lee
Contributors All authors have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data, drafting or revising the work critically and approved the final version of the manuscript. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Funding Supported by grants PROMETEO II/2015/009 from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; PI13/02786 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain and FEDER European funds.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethics approval Research ethics committee of the Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valencia, Spain.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.