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Clinical and prognostic relevance of serum S‐100β protein in malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
E. S. Schultz,
Thomas L. Diepgen,
Peter Von Den Driesch
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2133.1998.02119.x
Subject(s) - medicine , melanoma , clinical significance , stage (stratigraphy) , gastroenterology , pathology , oncology , cancer research , biology , paleontology
To assess the clinical and prognostic relevance of serum S‐100β in malignant melanoma serum levels of S‐100β protein were measured in 84 patients with malignant melanoma. Using a cut‐off value of 0.3 μg/L the sensitivity was 0% (none of 36) in patients with stage II, 31% (four of 13) in patients with stage III and 69% (24 of 35) in patients with stage IV. In the reference group serum S‐100β was below 0.3 μg/L in all cases (specificity = 100%). A significant correlation existed between serum S‐100β values and clinical staging as well as survival. In patients with distant metastases the serum concentration of S‐100β protein correlated well with the number of affected organs. Serial measurement in these patients revealed that tumour progression was accompanied by rising S‐100β values whereas declining values could only be revealed in one patient with a dramatic clinical response to therapy. Our results suggest that serum S‐100β determination is a useful marker for the evaluation of prognosis in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma and should be included in the clinical staging.