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Objective To detect the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA in the melanoma, and to analyze the relationship between the expression and subtypes and clinicopathological features of melanoma. Methods Expression of hTERT mRNA was detected by real-time quantitative PCR in 64 cases of melanoma and 30 cases of nevus. SPSS 17.0 software was used to analyze the relationship between hTERT mRNA expression and clinical pathological features of melanoma. Results The relative expression of hTERT mRNA in melanoma tissues was higher than that in nevus tissues [(52.43±5.42) vs (21.38±3.73), t= 4.72, P= 0.000]. The expression of hTERT mRNA in melanoma had no significant correlation with age, gender, ethnicity (all P> 0.05), but had relationship with subtypes, lymph node metastasis, Clark classification (all P 0.05). Conclusions The expression of hTERT mRNA in melanoma is high, especially in mucosal melanoma. hTERT may play an important role in the occurrence and development of melanoma.
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Objective To detect NRAS gene mutations in patients with acral melanoma, and to analyze their relationship with the prognosis of acral melanoma. Methods Clinical and pathological data were collected from 55 patients with pathologically diagnosed acral melanoma. DNA was extracted from paraffin?embedded specimens from lesions of the 55 patients and 15 patients with nevus. PCR and direct DNA sequencing were performed to detect NRAS gene mutations. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox′s proportional hazards regression model. Results Of the 55 patients, 6(10.9%)carried the Q61R mutation in codon 61 of the NRAS gene. No mutations were found in exon 1 or 2 of the NRAS gene in any of these paraffin?embedded specimens, and none of the pigmented nevus specimens harbored NRAS gene mutations. Of the 6 patients carrying NRAS gene mutations, 4 had lymph node metastasis. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that independent factors of poor prognosis included advanced clinical stage(RR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.062- 6.066, P < 0.05), not receiving surgical resection(RR = 2.98, 95% CI:1.316- 3.525, P < 0.05), and carrying NRAS gene mutations (RR = 2.73, 95% CI: 0.932- 3.257, P < 0.05). Conclusions NRAS gene mutations may be associated with lymph node metastasis in patients with acral melanoma. The prognosis of acral melanoma may be associated with clinical staging, treatment strategies and NRAS gene mutations. Additionally, NRAS gene mutations may serve as a new index for predicting prognosis of acral melanoma.