PRAME mRNA Expression Predicts Uveal Melanoma Metastasis
PRAME mRNA is a biomarker of metastasis risk for patients with class 1 uveal melanoma, according to authors of a retrospective study.
PRAME (preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma) mRNA is a biomarker of metastasis risk for patients with class 1 uveal melanoma, according to authors of a retrospective study, at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, and the Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. Their findings were reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
“We were surprised to find that one biomarker alone-PRAME-was sufficient to identify the subgroup of class 1 tumors with increased metastatic risk,” noted senior study author J. William Harbour, MD, associate director for Basic Research and leader of the Eye Cancer Site Disease Group at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami, in an American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) news release.
After conducting genome-wide mRNA expression analyses from five Class 1 uveal melanomas that had metastasized and eight class 1 tumors that had not metastasized, the researchers found the PRAME mRNA expression was the most elevated of candidate biomarkers (P = .0006). In subsequent quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses using 64 class 1 uveal melanoma samples, the team confirmed that PRAME expression predicted metastatic disease.
PRAME expression was associated with larger tumor diameter (P = .05) and SF3B1mutations (P = .003), the coauthors reported.
“These findings could have immediate clinical impact,” said Dr. Harbour. “The data imply that patients with class 1 uveal melanomas with increased PRAME expression should be managed differently than patients with class 1 uveal melanomas without PRAME expression.”
Patients with elevated PRAME mRNA expression “should be monitored more closely for metastatic disease and they should be considered for clinical trials or adjuvant therapy,” he said.
Considering this was a retrospective study, Dr. Harbour and colleagues plan on conducting a prospective, multicenter study to further validate their findings.
