Detección mediante RT-PCR de células tumorales circulantes en pacientes con melanoma maligno en estadio III: Correlación con el grosor y la histología del tumor

the objetive of our study was to evaluate the utility of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) in the detection of the tyrosinase enzyme as a marker of circulating melanocites in melanoma patients (stage iii) and the correlation with prognostic factors such as thickness and histologic type tumors. melanoma cells were identified through the tyrosinase mrna by rt-pcr from 28 patients with stage iii of malignant melanoma (classified to the ajcc guidelines). our findings showed a high pcr positivity from patients in stage iii, which were more frequent in primary tumors measuring 4mm (75%). however, no correlation was observed between the positive pcr results and the histological appearance of the primary tumor. our results suggest the possible application of the pcr assay for tyrosinase mrna as a new marker in judging the prognosis of malignant melanoma.