Mueller Marcel, Melchers Susanne, Mueller Iris, Utikal Jochen, Krug Julia, Schmieder Astrid
Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
J Skin Cancer. 2025 Aug 30;2025:9788886. doi: 10.1155/jskc/9788886. eCollection 2025.
Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) regulates immunological and cellular processes. Recently, CRH is expressed in skin cancers, where its expression appears to correlate with the degree of malignancy. This study correlates CRH expression in melanoma metastases with patient survival and compares the intensity of CRH expression in melanoma to that in less aggressive skin cancer entities. Tissue microarrays with cores from 94 melanomas and 40 melanocytic nevi and 51 slides from 41 basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and 10 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) were immunohistochemically stained for CRH. The intensity of CRH expression in melanoma metastases was stratified by sex and correlated with patient survival. Furthermore, proliferation and apoptosis were assessed in CRH-stimulated A431 cells using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and an apoptosis detection kit. The intensity of CRH expression was higher in primary melanomas than in melanocytic nevi. Higher CRH expression was also found in melanoma metastases from women compared to men. However, higher CRH expression was correlated with reduced overall survival only in men. Compared to melanoma, BCCs and SCCs showed weaker CRH expression, which was in line with the finding that in vitro, CRH stimulation of the A431 cells reduced their proliferative activity. CRH does not necessarily correlate with the degree of malignancy, as semimalignant cancers such as BCC show higher levels of CRH expression than SCCs. In melanoma, CRH expression in metastases may be an important prognostic factor for overall survival in men, which needs further evaluation.
促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）调节免疫和细胞过程。最近，CRH在皮肤癌中表达，其表达似乎与恶性程度相关。本研究将黑色素瘤转移灶中的CRH表达与患者生存率相关联，并比较黑色素瘤中CRH表达强度与侵袭性较低的皮肤癌实体中的表达强度。对来自94例黑色素瘤、40例黑素细胞痣的组织芯以及来自41例基底细胞癌（BCC）和10例鳞状细胞癌（SCC）的51张玻片进行CRH免疫组织化学染色。黑色素瘤转移灶中CRH表达强度按性别分层，并与患者生存率相关。此外，使用酶联免疫吸附测定和凋亡检测试剂盒评估CRH刺激的A431细胞中的增殖和凋亡。原发性黑色素瘤中CRH表达强度高于黑素细胞痣。与男性相比，女性黑色素瘤转移灶中也发现较高的CRH表达。然而，仅在男性中，较高的CRH表达与总生存期缩短相关。与黑色素瘤相比，BCC和SCC显示较弱的CRH表达，这与体外CRH刺激A431细胞降低其增殖活性的发现一致。CRH不一定与恶性程度相关，因为诸如BCC等半恶性癌症的CRH表达水平高于SCC。在黑色素瘤中，转移灶中的CRH表达可能是男性总生存期的重要预后因素，这需要进一步评估。
