Multimarker real‐time reverse transcription‐PCR for quantitative detection of melanoma‐associated antigens: a novel possible staging method

Abstract

This report describes a multiple-marker real-time RT-PCR, which is able to provide quantitative data on melanoma markers in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients. Measurement of the studied molecular markers in our hands represents a prognostic factor and a useful method for early detection of metastasis and treatment response of melanoma patients.

Tyrosinase mRNA levels in the blood of uveal melanoma patients: correlation with the number of circulating tumor cells and tumor progression

“…In particular, molecular markers can be useful tools for the early detection of disseminated tumour cells in cancer patients [7,8], whereas PCR-based techniques have already been applied to the diagnosis of subclinical cancer diseases, spreading and monitoring of the treatment response [9]. Several molecular markers for the detection of disseminated tumor cells in the blood of melanoma patients have been investigated [10][11][12][13][14] and, among them, tyrosinase (a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of melanin expressed by melanocytes and melanoma cells) appears to be one of the most effective, as its transcripts are generally not detected in blood samples from healthy donors [15]. Tyrosinase has been investigated mainly on cutaneous melanoma, but some studies [16][17][18] have also evaluated tyrosinase mRNA levels in patients with uveal melanoma.…”

Absolute quantitative PCR for detection of molecular biomarkers in melanoma patients: A preliminary report

“…Assessment of primary and/or metastatic melanoma has been addressed in the new American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging criteria. The staging system, however, does not accurately take into account the disease progression events [3]: imaging methods are usually able to detect the presence of lymph-node or visceral metastasis in advanced stages of disease when the concomitant hematogenic diffusion may occur [4]. Molecular technologies could exponentially increase the detection of nodal micrometastases or circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) in blood.…”

Rapid nested-PCR for tyrosinase gene detection on chip

“…The malignant melanoma (MM) is characterized by highly frequent generated metastases, starting from the lymphatic system and eventually extending to many organs (Arenberger et al, 2008). Due to the small size of the most primary melanoma lesions, the detection of MM is particularly critical.…”