Plasma Biomarkers Identified in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma

A set of plasma biomarkers reasonably predicted the risk of metastasis among patients with melanoma.

Scientists tested the plasma of 216 individuals, including 108 patients with metastatic melanoma and 108 patients with stage 1 or 2 disease. They identified seven plasma biomarkers: CEACAM, ICAM-1, osteopontin, MIA, GDF-15, TIMP-1, and S100B.

All of the biomarkers were higher in patients with metastatic melanoma than in patients with early-stage disease. Seventy-six percent of patients with early-stage disease had no elevations at all whereas 83% of metastatic patients had elevations of at least one marker.

The investigators from Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA) concluded that these biomarkers could be used for monitoring melanoma patients for metastatic disease. However, the findings need to be confirmed prospectively before the biomarker set can be used in the clinic.

Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh most common cancer in women. It is estimated that 68,130 people in the United States were diagnosed in 2010, and 8,700 died. If melanoma is caught early enough it can be removed with surgery; mortality typically comes when the cancer metastasizes.

Patients with melanoma are typically subjected to a combination of imaging tests, blood tests, and physical examinations, but there is no clear consensus on how often these tests should occur or how reliable they are.

"The rate at which melanoma is increasing is dramatic, and there is a huge number of patients under surveillance," said Harriet Kluger, MD, associate professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. "Our current method of surveillance includes periodic imaging, which creates huge societal costs."

The study was published in the April 15, 2011, edition of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Related Links:
Yale University School of Medicine