RT-PCR for tyrosinase expression as a molecular marker in malignant melanoma.

As the incidence of malignant melanoma steadily increases the need for markers in detection of early metastasis and guidance of therapy has become urgent. Presence of melanoma cells in patient peripheral blood, lymph nodes or bone marrow (BM) specimens could indicate tumour dissemination, and thus a high risk of metastasis. In 1991 coupled Reverse Transcription and Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was firstly used to detect tyrosinase mRNA in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients. Since then numerous studies have evaluated the significance of tyrosinase expression in bone marrow specimens, lymph nodes and blood from melanoma patients and there results indicate that this method might have important clinical applications in melanoma management.