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. 2004 Feb;130(2):80-6.
doi: 10.1007/s00432-003-0509-8. Epub 2003 Nov 21.

Immunohistochemical determination of HER-2/neu, c-Kit (CD117), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression in malignant melanoma

Anil Potti  1 , Nauman Moazzam, Eric Langness, Kaley Sholes, Ketki Tendulkar, Michael Koch, Steve Kargas
Affiliations

Immunohistochemical determination of HER-2/neu, c-Kit (CD117), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression in malignant melanoma

Anil Potti et al. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2004 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and evaluate the possible prognostic value of the molecular targets in malignant melanoma, we studied the overexpression of HER-2/neu, c-Kit, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in this patient population.

Materials and methods: Overexpression of HER-2/neu, c-Kit, and VEGF was evaluated using immunohistochemical assays in 202 archival tissue specimens.

Results: Only two patients (0.9%) revealed HER-2/neu overexpression, whereas 46 (22.8%) revealed c-Kit and 42 (20.8%) specimens showed VEGF overexpression. Multivariate analysis performed did not show a significant difference in survival between c-Kit-positive and c-Kit-negative groups (P = 0.36) and VEGF-positive and VEGF-negative groups (P = 0.25). Interestingly, c-Kit was more likely to be overexpressed in the superficial spreading type and VEGF was overexpressed preferentially in the amelanotic melanoma type.

Conclusions: HER-2/neu has no role in melanogenesis. Both c-Kit (expressed in superficial spreading disease) and VEGF (expressed in amelanotic melanoma) may have significant therapeutic implications as molecular targets, which warrants further investigation.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan-Meier survival analysis by c-Kit status determined by immunohistochemistry
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier survival analysis by VEGF overexpression determined by immunohistochemistry
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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