Vera DEC, Reyes-Jaimes O, Valecillos S, Sardi J, Reyes-Flores O, Villarroel A

Language: Spanish
References: 8
Page: 100-103
PDF size: 924.36 Kb.

ABSTRACT

The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has increased among the Caucasian population around the world, so as to represent a significant public health issue. Although the incidence has shown a continuous growth, there has been a decrease in mortality and a rise in survival in the majority of the population, possibly due to the success of prevention campaigns, which have caused the diagnosis to be made in early stages. Objectives: 1) To determine the alteration in the expression of the p16 protein in patients younger than 50 years diagnosed with melanoma. 2) To highlight the increased incidence of this tumor in young patients to motivate the search during the clinical examination, thus detecting cases early. The expression of the p16 protein was studied in a group of individuals younger than 50 years diagnosed with malignant melanoma, compared with another group of subjects with the same diagnosis, but aged over 70 years. We performed a histological review of the sheets of each case stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and then, an immunohistochemical study using the method of immunoperoxidase stained with anti-p16 to mark the p16 protein expression. Results: In the first group of patients, ages ranged from 22 to 43 years old; mostly, three-fourths, Clark level I; Clark level III the rest, with Breslow 0.8. In the second group, the ages were between 72 and 80 years old, two-fourths Clark level I, and level III the other two cases, one Breslow 0.79 and another, 0.81. A tendency to the loss of expression of p16 in thicker melanomas was observed.

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