Quantitative assessment of neuropilin-2 as a simple and sensitive diagnostic assay for spitzoid melanocytic lesions.

ABSTRACT: There is a significant need for the development of diagnostic tools that can precisely distinguish Spitz nevi and spitzoid melanomas. Here, we report the development of a PCR-based quantitative diagnostic assay for spitzoid melanocytic lesions utilizing the expression ratio of neuropilin-2 and melan-A genes in primary tumor specimens. We find that the expression ratio of neuropilin-2/melan-A is significantly increased in spitzoid melanomas compared with Spitz nevi. The diagnostic potential of this quantitative assay was validated in two independent sets of patient samples as demonstrated in a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showing an area under the curve value of 91.8%. Furthermore, the assay was found to quantitatively distinguish the clinical nature of atypical spitzoid

SUBMITTER: Eisenstein A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805139 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature