Molecular Mapping of Lymph Node Metastases by Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction in Two Melanoma Patients

    March 2011 in “ Journal of Dermatology ”
    Shoko Abe-Mukumoto, Tomoko Mori, Ryosuke Hino, Jun-ichi Sakabe, Shoko Fukamachi, Toshinori Bito, Motonobu Nakamura, Kenji Kabashima, Y. Tokura
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    TLDR The conclusion is that a certain test might help find cancer spread in lymph nodes for melanoma patients, but more research is needed due to false positives.
    The study evaluated lymph node metastasis in two melanoma patients using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect the expression levels of three markers (gp100, MART-1, and tyrosinase). The results showed significantly higher expression levels in histologically positive lymph nodes compared to negative ones, with the highest levels found in nodes closest to the primary tumor. The findings suggest qRT-PCR could be useful for mapping lymph node metastasis in melanoma patients, but the high rate of false positives and the unknown cut-off value for qRT-PCR positivity necessitate further research to confirm the prognostic value of PCR levels.
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