Melan-A expression in non-melanocytic carcinoma: A potential diagnostic pitfall.
Histol Histopathol
; 39(8): 1037-1041, 2024 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38205829
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Melan-A/MART-1 is a melanocytic differentiation marker recognized as an antigen on melanoma cells. It is a useful diagnostic marker for pathologists in the diagnosis of melanocytic tumors. However, we recently found that Melan-A can be expressed in some non-melanocytic carcinomas that are rarely reported in the literature.METHODS:
We analyzed the expression of Melan-A in 87 non-melanocytic carcinoma tissue samples by immunohistochemistry. Marker positivity was defined as ≥10% positive tumor cells.RESULTS:
In 87 non-melanocytic carcinoma tissue samples, Melan-A was positive in six (6.89%) cases, of which four (66.7%) were male and two (33.3%) were female, with a mean age of 60 years (range 21-82 years). Five (83.3%) of the Melan-A-positive cases had distant metastases. Compared with Melan-A negative cases, Melan-A positive non-melanocytic carcinomas were significantly associated with poor prognosis (P=0.0023).CONCLUSIONS:
Melan-A expression is relatively rare in non-melanocytic carcinoma cases. This report highlights a potential diagnostic pitfall in the diagnosis of melanoma, urges pathologists to exercise caution in cases of Melan-A positivity, and illustrates the need for an immunohistochemical marker panel to avoid misdiagnosis.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Immunohistochemistry
/
Biomarkers, Tumor
/
MART-1 Antigen
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Histol Histopathol
Journal subject:
HISTOLOGIA
/
PATOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: