AUTHOR=Çakır Uğur , Balogh Petra , Ferenczik Anikó , Brodszky Valentin , Krenács Tibor , Kárpáti Sarolta , Sárdy Miklós , Holló Péter , Fábián Melinda TITLE=G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 and collagen XVII endodomain expression in human cutaneous melanomas: can they serve as prognostic factors? JOURNAL=Pathology and Oncology Research VOLUME=30 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.por-journal.com/journals/pathology-and-oncology-research/articles/10.3389/pore.2024.1611809 DOI=10.3389/pore.2024.1611809 ISSN=1532-2807 ABSTRACT=

Melanoma incidence is increasing globally. Although novel therapies have improved the survival of primary melanoma patients over the past decade, the overall survival rate for metastatic melanoma remains low. In addition to traditional prognostic factors such as Breslow thickness, ulceration, and mitotic rate, novel genetic and molecular markers have been investigated. In our study, we analyzed the expression of G-protein coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1) and the endodomain of collagen XVII (COL17) in relation to clinicopathological factors in primary cutaneous melanomas with known lymph node status in both sexes, using immunohistochemistry. We found, that GPER1 expression correlated with favorable clinicopathological factors, including lower Breslow thickness, lower mitotic rate and absence of ulceration. In contrast, COL17 expression was associated with poor prognostic features, such as higher tumor thickness, higher mitotic rate, presence of ulceration and presence of regression. Melanomas positive for both GPER1 and COL17 had significantly lower mean Breslow thickness and mitotic rate compared to cases positive for COL17 only. Our data indicate that GPER1 and COL17 proteins may be of potential prognostic value in primary cutaneous melanomas.