Insulin-Like Growth Factor II mRNA-Binding Protein 3 Expression Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Acral Lentiginous Melanoma

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 21;11(1):e0147431. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147431. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP-3) is an RNA-binding protein expressed in multiple cancers, including melanomas. However, the expression of IMP-3 has not been investigated in acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM). This study sought to elucidate its prognostic value in ALMs. IMP-3 expression was studied in 93 patients diagnosed with ALM via immunohistochemistry. Univariate and multivariate analyses for survival were performed, according to clinical and histologic parameters, using the Cox proportional hazard model. Survival curves were graphed using the Kaplan-Meier method. IMP-3 was over-expressed in 70 out of 93 tumors (75.3%). IMP-3 expression correlated with thick and high-stage tumor and predicted poorer overall, melanoma-specific, recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survivals (P = 0.002, 0.006, 0.008 and 0.012, respectively). Further analysis showed that patients with tumor thickness ≤ 4.0 mm and positive IMP-3 expression had a significantly worse melanoma-specific survival than those without IMP-3 expression (P = 0.048). IMP-3 (hazard ratio 3.67, 95% confidence intervals 1.35-9.97, P = 0.011) was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for melanoma-specific survival in multivariate survival analysis. Positive IMP-3 expression was an important prognostic factor for ALMs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Foot Diseases / metabolism
  • Foot Diseases / mortality
  • Foot Diseases / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Male
  • Melanoma / metabolism
  • Melanoma / mortality
  • Melanoma / secondary*
  • Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / metabolism
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / mortality
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / pathology*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prognosis
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Skin Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Skin Neoplasms / mortality
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Survival Rate
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • IGF2BP3 protein, human
  • RNA-Binding Proteins

Grants and funding

This project was supported by an unrestricted Grant No. MOST 103-2314-B-002-065-MY3 (CYC) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (https://www.most.gov.tw/en/public) and by unrestricted Grants No. NTUH 101-N1950, NTUH 102-N2274, NTUH 103-N2597 and NTUH 104-M2835 (YSS) from the National Taiwan University Hospital (http://www.ntuh.gov.tw/en/default_P.aspx). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.