Pontara Andrea, Paolino Giovanni, Gregorc Vanesa, Mercuri Santo Raffaele, Bulotta Alessandra, Bearzi Pietro, Doglioni Claudio, Rizzo Nathalie
Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Unit of Dermatology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Dermatol Pract Concept. 2020 Apr 3;10(2):e2020029. doi: 10.5826/dpc.1002a29. eCollection 2020.
Malignant melanoma (MM) is potentially the most dangerous form of skin tumor. In the last few years, the so-called TAM receptors, a unique family of tyrosine kinase (TK) receptors, have become increasingly important.
To evaluate Mer and Axl TAM receptor expression to find clinicopathological features that could explain the biological behavior of MM.
Clinicopathological data were obtained from an MM electronic database at our Institute. We reviewed 24 cutaneous MM specimens. TAM receptor expression was assayed using immunohistochemistry. Combinative semiquantitative scoring was used for the evaluation of TAM receptor expression (MerTK and AxlTK). Appropriate statistical methods were used to evaluate a possible correlation between TAM receptor expression and the clinicopathological variables of the MM samples (univariate analysis and multivariate analysis).
MerTK and AxlTK were expressed differently in the MM samples, with a major expression of the first receptor. The cells of the tumor microenvironment contributed to the majority of the total score. A significant association was found between AxlScore and the site of the tumor and between AxlScore and the variable ulceration; another correlation was found between MerScore and the following characteristics: pathological stage of the tumor (pT), sex, ulceration, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.
All correlations between the expression of MerTK and AxlTK with the clinical and histological variables of MM should be validated in a large group of people in order to increase the validity and the impact of our observations, with subsequently therapeutic implications in the era of the "targeted therapy."
恶性黑色素瘤（MM）可能是最危险的皮肤肿瘤形式。在过去几年中，所谓的TAM受体，一类独特的酪氨酸激酶（TK）受体家族，变得越来越重要。
评估Mer和Axl TAM受体表达，以寻找能够解释MM生物学行为的临床病理特征。
临床病理数据来自我们研究所的MM电子数据库。我们回顾了24例皮肤MM标本。使用免疫组织化学检测TAM受体表达。采用联合半定量评分评估TAM受体表达（MerTK和AxlTK）。使用适当的统计方法评估TAM受体表达与MM样本临床病理变量之间的可能相关性（单因素分析和多因素分析）。
MerTK和AxlTK在MM样本中的表达不同，第一种受体表达较多。肿瘤微环境的细胞在总分中占大部分。发现Axl评分与肿瘤部位以及Axl评分与溃疡变量之间存在显著关联；还发现Mer评分与以下特征之间存在另一种相关性：肿瘤的病理分期（pT）、性别、溃疡和肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞。
MerTK和AxlTK表达与MM临床和组织学变量之间的所有相关性都应在一大群人中进行验证，以提高我们观察结果的有效性和影响力，随后在“靶向治疗”时代具有治疗意义。
