Comparison of Melanocyte-Associated Immunohistochemical Markers in Acral Lentiginous Melanoma and Acral Benign Nevi

Abstract

Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is a relatively rare clinicopathologic subtype of cutaneous malignant melanoma, but it is the most common type of melanoma among Asians. Although the research to identify immunohistochemical (IHC) markers to differentiate nevi from melanoma is being conducted, specific markers for ALM are not well-known. Therefore, we aimed to analyze and compare the differences in the expression of melanocyte-associated IHC markers between ALM and acral benign nevi (ABN). Two independent groups of 53 and 19 paraffin-embedded specimens (from patients with pathologically confirmed ALM and ABN, respectively) were subjected to IHC staining for MART-1, preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME), SOX10, HMB-45, Ki-67, and p16. We performed a quantitative analysis of PRAME, SOX10, KI-67, and p16 expression and gradient pattern analysis of HMB-45 expression for each specimen. The PRAME (60.1% and 28.5%, P < 0.05) and Ki-67 (7.8% and 3.5%, P < 0.05) expression levels were significantly higher in the ALM group than in the ABN group. The p16 expression was significantly lower (14.2% and 19.4%, P < 0.05), and the absence of HMB-45 gradient was more frequent in the ALM group than in the ABN group. However, no statistical significance was noted in SOX10 (54.8% and 44.7%). Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that PRAME had the highest area under the curve value. In summary, among various IHC markers, PRAME was the most valuable marker for the diagnosis of ALM; however, further large-scale studies are needed to validate these findings.