Melanoma Inhibitory Activity and regional lymph node status in malignant melanoma patients

Background For many cancers, and malignant melanoma (MM) makes no exception, regional lymph node (RLN) status is decisive for subsequent patients’ outcome. But particularly for MM, stage III comprises a very heterogeneous group of patients, from those with microscopic invasion diagnosed by sentinel node (SN) biopsy to those with matted nodes. Correct staging of patients with clinically free RLN requires SN biopsy. Because this is an invasive maneuver, various substitutes were searched. Thus, in literature there are conflicting references to a possible link between Melanoma Inhibitory Activity (MIA) serum concentration and SN status [1,2]. MIA, a protein secreted by malignant melanocytes into the extracellular space, blocks the melanoma cells attachment to fibronectin and laminin. Thus MIA increases malignant cells mobility and promotes local invasion and metastasis [3]. In this context, we sought a connection between RLN status and MIA serum concentration in our group of patients.