Tumor characteristics involved in the metastatic behaviour as an improvement in primary cutaneous melanoma...

We report the results of a retrospective immunohistochemical study on routinely fixed, paraffin embedded tissues from 147 primary cutaneous melanomas belonging to the classes pT3 and pT4, the development of which has been followed for at least five years. The parameters Cathepsin B, Cathepsin D, Collagenase IV, Metallothionein and PCNA were selected from previous studies on small collectives. All parameters showed statistically significant differences between tumors of the metastatic and the nonmetastatic group. Particularly conspicuous was the expression of Cathepsin B, Cathepsin D and Collagenase IV at the dermal invading front of the tumors. Based on this data we present a procedure of combining these data with established clinical-histological parameters such as tumor thickness and ulceration to an integrated individual risk factor that improves the certainty of melanoma prognosis.