Background: Uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults. In advanced cases, the prognosis is very poor. Thus far, no effective methods of pharmacotherapy of this cancer have been found. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of PARP-1, the best-known member of the family of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases, in uveal melanoma and its associations with clinicopathological parameters, overall survival, and disease-free survival.
Methods: The study included 91 patients who underwent enucleation due to uveal melanoma. PARP-1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry.
Results: High PARP-1 expression was associated with more frequent chromosome 3 loss, higher histopathological grade, bigger tumor size, and absence of intrascleral extension. High PARP-1 expression was associated with shorter overall survival time and disease-free survival time.
Conclusions: The above findings indicate that high expression of PARP-1 can be considered as an unfavorable prognostic factor in uveal melanoma.
Keywords: PARP; PARP-1; immunohistochemistry; uveal melanoma.