Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To determine whether S100 protein, its dimers or MIA were present in the serum of patients with large uveal melanoma, an whether their concentrations were related to any clinical and histopathological parameters or to survival in these patients. We furthermore studied whether S100 protein or MIA may be better a indicator of micrometastases than liver function tests. Methods: S100B, S100A1B, S100BB and MIA concentration were measured in sera from 107 patients with uveal melanoma obtained prior to enucleation, from 30 uveal melanoma patients with metastases, and in sera from 50 healthy controls. The S100B Liaison, an immunoluminometric assay and S100B, S100A1B, S100BB and MIA ELISAs were used to quantify S100 and MIA concentrations in serum. Results were compared with liver function tests (AP, LDH, ASAT, ALAT and γGT). Results: S100B, S100 dimers and MIA were not significantly increased in sera from uveal melanoma patients at the moment of enucleation and were not related to clinical or histopathological parameters. There was, however, a significant difference between S100 and MIA in uveal melanoma patients with metastases compared to controls and patients without metastases. Both S100 and MIA showed a better correlation with the presence of metastatic disease better than liver function tests. Conclusions: In our study on uveal melanoma patients, S100B and MIA serum concentrations were not correlated with any tested tumour parameter and were not of prognostic value themselves, in contrast with findings in cutaneous melanoma. S100B and MIA were more sensitive than LDH and AP in identifying the presence of melanoma metastases. A prospective study is needed to evaluate S100B and MIA in identifying early micro–metastases in uveal melanoma.
Keywords: uvea • melanoma • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: systems/equipment/techniques