Molecular markers of lymph node disease in melanoma

The molecular profiling of primary melanoma tumors and sentinel lymph node (SLN) specimens might improve patients’ stratification according to their risk of disease progression, and thus the selection for surgical (e.g., radical lymph node dissection) and medical (e.g., interferon-alpha and molecular targeted strategies) therapies. SLN status represents the most important prognostic factor in early-stage melanoma patients. Approximately 80% of patients undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) will have negative results. Molecular profiling of primary melanomas might add important predictive information to the currently used clinico-histopathological features for predicting SLN status.

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