Surgical resection margin for T3-T4 primary acral melanoma: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.

Although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines include clear recommendations for the appropriate resection margins in non-acral cutaneous melanoma, the required margin for acral melanoma is controversial. In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate whether narrow-margin excision is warranted for thick acral melanoma. Records from 277 melanoma patients with stage T3-T4 disease who underwent radical surgery in three centers in China from September 2010 to October 2018 were reviewed. Clinicopathologic data, including age, gender, excision margin (1-2 cm versus ≥ 2 cm), Clark level, Breslow thickness, ulceration, N stage and adjuvant therapy, were included for survival analysis. The patients were followed up until death or March 31, 2021. Log-rank and Cox regression analyses were used to identify prognostic factors for overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and local and in-transit recurrence-free survival (LITRFS). Among all enrolled patients, 207 (74.7%) had acral melanoma, and 70 (25.3%) had non-acral cutaneous melanoma. No significant difference in baseline characteristics was identified between non-acral and acral melanoma, except for age (p = 0.004), gender (p = 0.009) and ulceration (p = 0.048). In non-acral melanoma, a resection margin of 1-2 cm was a poor independent prognostic factor for OS [p = 0.015; hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI), 0.26 (0.009-0.77)] and LITRFS [p = 0.013; HR (95% CI), 0.19 (0.05-0.71)] but not for DFS [p = 0.143; HR (95% CI), 0.51 (0.21-1.25)]. Forty-three (20.8%) patients in the acral melanoma group had a 1-2-cm resection margin. The resection margin was not correlated with patients' OS (p = 0.196 by log-rank analysis, p = 0.865 by multivariate survival analysis), DFS (p = 0.080 by log-rank analysis, p = 0.758 by multivariate survival analysis) or LITRFS (p = 0.354 by log-rank analysis) in acral melanoma. As recommended in the NCCN guidelines, a resection margin ≥ 2 cm is required for non-acral cutaneous melanoma. Meanwhile, a narrow resection margin (1-2 cm) may be safe for patients with acral melanoma.

A Novel Long Noncoding RNA (lncRNA), LL22NC03-N64E9.1, Promotes the Proliferation of Lung Cancer Cells and is a Potential Prognostic Molecular Biomarker for Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of a novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), LL22NC03-N64E9.1, and its effect on the phenotype of lung cancer cells and tissues using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) RNA sequencing data and other publicly available profiling data. MATERIAL AND METHODS The lung cancer dataset GSE30219 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository. Differentially expressed lncRNA, LL22NC03-N64E9.1, in 48 lung cancer tissue samples and adjacent normal lung tissues, normal lung cell lines BEAS-2B and A549, and lung cancer cell lines, H1703, and H292, were detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (qRT-PCR). Interference efficiency was performed using small interfering RNA (siRNA). Tumor levels of lncRNA, LL22NC03-N64E9.1, and clinicopathological parameters were statistically analyzed. RESULTS Analysis of the GSE30219 test cohort showed that lncRNA, LL22NC03-N64E9.1 expression was significantly increased in lung cancer. In clinical tissue samples, the level of LL22NC03-N64E9.1 in patients with lung cancer was significantly increased compared with adjacent normal lung tissues (P<0.001). The level of LL22NC03-N64E9.1 in patients with lung cancer was significantly correlated with tumor size and TNM stage (P<0.05), but not with age, sex and the presence of lymph node metastasis (P>0.05). In the H292 cells, following knockdown of LL22NC03-N64E9.1, cell proliferation and cloning were reduced. CONCLUSIONS Expression of lncRNA, LL22NC03-N64E9.1, promoted proliferation of lung cancer cells in vitro, was highly expressed in lung cancer tissues and was associated with increased overall survival (OS), tumor size, and tumor stage in patients with lung cancer.