Multiple Gene Mutations Predict Recurrence in Malignant Melanoma and Clinical Outcomes, Study Suggests

Source: Melanoma News Today, March 2016

In a new study, researchers investigated whether molecular profiling could predict clinical outcomes, and found that patients with primary malignant melanoma are at a higher risk of recurrent disease if they present mutations in two or more cancer-related genes. The study’s results were recently presented at the 2016 HemOnc Today Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies meeting.

Patient molecular profiling has led to significant advancements in the development of new therapeutic strategies, such as BRAF, MEK, PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibitors. The profiling has also provided clinicians with valuable prognostic data, which is essential for treatment of patients with difficult-to-treat advanced-stage or recurrent malignant melanoma.

In this new study, Francis Si Wai Zih, M.D., MSc, from the department of surgical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and his colleagues analyzed, through next-generation sequencing, tissue samples from 108 patients with malignant melanoma, in the search for mutations in specific regions where 50 genes are known to be cancer-related. Forty-nine of these patients had recurrent melanoma, 24 patients had distant metastases, and 15 patients had in-transit disease.