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Lezcano C, Berwick M, Luo L, Barnhill R, Duncan LM, Gerami P, Lowe L, Messina JL, Scolyer RA, Wood B, Yeh I, Zembowicz A, Busam KJ. Interobserver agreement in the histopathological classification of desmoplastic melanomas. Pathology 2023; 55:223-226. [PMID: 36653238 PMCID: PMC9974895 DOI: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.12.347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Desmoplastic melanoma is a subtype of melanoma characterised by amelanotic fusiform melanocytes dispersed in a collagenous stroma. Cell-poor and fibrous stroma-rich 'pure' variants have been distinguished from 'mixed' variants with areas of higher cell density and/or less desmoplastic stroma. This distinction is relevant because patients whose tumours display a pure phenotype have a lower risk for regional lymph node metastasis and distant recurrence. However, little is known about interobserver agreement among pathologists in the subclassification of desmoplastic melanoma. To address this issue, we conducted a study in which eleven dermatopathologists independently evaluated whole slide scanned images of excisions from 30 desmoplastic melanomas. The participating pathologists were asked to classify the tumours as pure or mixed. They were also asked to record the presence or absence of neurotropism and angiotropism. We found substantial interobserver agreement between the 11 dermatopathologists in the classification of tumours as pure versus mixed desmoplastic melanoma (kappa=0.64; p<0.0001). There was fair agreement between the 11 dermatopathologists in the evaluation of presence versus absence of neurotropism (kappa=0.26; p<0.0001), and slight agreement in the assessment of angiotropism (kappa=0.13; p<0.0001). The level of concordance in the subclassification of desmoplastic melanomas is encouraging for the acceptance of this prognostic parameter in the real-world practice of melanoma pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia Lezcano
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Marianne Berwick
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Li Luo
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Raymond Barnhill
- Department of Translational Research, Institut Curie, Université de Paris UFR de Médecine, Paris, France
| | - Lyn M Duncan
- Pathology Service, Dermatopathology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Pedram Gerami
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Lori Lowe
- Departments of Pathology and Dermatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Jane L Messina
- Department of Cutaneous Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Richard A Scolyer
- Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and NSW Health Pathology, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Benjamin Wood
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, PathWest Laboratory Medicine, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Iwei Yeh
- Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Artur Zembowicz
- Dermatopathology Consultations LLC, Lahey Clinic and Tufts Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Klaus J Busam
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, New York, NY, USA
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2
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Sadurní MB, Meves A. Breslow thickness 2.0: Why gene expression profiling is a step toward better patient selection for sentinel lymph node biopsies. Mod Pathol 2022; 35:1509-1514. [PMID: 35654998 PMCID: PMC9162102 DOI: 10.1038/s41379-022-01101-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Revised: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Risk-stratification of cutaneous melanoma is important. Patients want to know what to expect after diagnosis, and physicians need to decide on a treatment plan. Historically, melanoma that had spread beyond the skin and regional lymph nodes was largely incurable, and the only approach to preventing a bad outcome was surgery. Through the seminal work of Alexander Breslow and Donald Morton, a system was devised to carefully escalate surgery based on primary tumor thickness and sentinel lymph node status. Today, we know that prophylactic lymph node dissections do not improve survival, but we continue to appreciate the prognostic implications of a positive sentinel node and the benefits of removing nodal metastases, which facilitates locoregional disease control. However, the question arises whether we can better select patients for sentinel lymph node biopsies (SLNB) as, currently, 85% of these procedures are negative and non-therapeutic. Here, we argue that gene expression profiling (GEP) of the diagnostic biopsy is a valuable step toward better patient selection when combined with reliable clinicopathologic (CP) information such as patient age and Breslow thickness. Recently, a CP-GEP-based classifier of nodal metastasis risk, the Merlin Assay, has become commercially available. While CP-GEP is still being validated in prospective studies, preliminary data suggest that it is an independent predictor of nodal metastasis, outperforming clinicopathological variables. The hunt is on for Breslow thickness 2.0.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana B. Sadurní
- grid.66875.3a0000 0004 0459 167XDepartment of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905 USA
| | - Alexander Meves
- Department of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
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Mo J, Zhao X, Wang W, Zhao N, Dong X, Zhang Y, Cheng R, Sun B. TFPI2 Promotes Perivascular Migration in an Angiotropism Model of Melanoma. Front Oncol 2021; 11:662434. [PMID: 34249699 PMCID: PMC8264799 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.662434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose Angiotropism is the process by which cancer cells attach to and migrate along blood vessels to acquire vasculature, disseminate, and metastasize. However, the molecular basis for such vessel–tumor interactions has not been fully elucidated, partly due to limited experimental models. In this study, we aimed to observe and explore the molecular mechanism underlying angiotropism in melanoma. Methods To monitor the interactions of human melanoma cells with the vasculature in vivo, a murine coxenograft model was employed by co-injecting highly and poorly invasive melanoma cells subcutaneously. To identify key pathways and genes involved in the angiotropic phenotype of melanoma, analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were performed. The role of tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI2) in angiotropism was evaluated by immunostaining, adhesion assay, shRNA, and in vivo tumorigenicity. Angiotropism and TFPI2 expression were examined in surgical specimens of melanoma by immunohistochemical staining. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were analyzed to explore the expression and prognostic implications of TFPI2 in uveal and cutaneous melanoma. Results Highly invasive melanoma cells spread along the branches of intratumor blood vessels to the leading edge of invasion in the coxenograft model, resembling angiotropic migration. Mechanisms underlying angiotropism were primarily associated with molecular function regulators, regulation of cell population proliferation, developmental processes, cell differentiation, responses to cytokines and cell motility/locomotion. TFPI2 downregulation weakened the perivascular migration of highly invasive melanoma cells. High levels of TFPI2 were correlated with worse and better survival in uveal and cutaneous melanoma, respectively. Conclusion These results provide a straightforward in vivo model for the observation of angiotropism and suggest that TFPI2 could inhibit the angiotropic phenotype of melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Mo
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Xiulan Zhao
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Wei Wang
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Nan Zhao
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Xueyi Dong
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Yanhui Zhang
- Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Runfen Cheng
- Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Baocun Sun
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
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4
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The biological and prognostic significance of angiotropism in uveal melanoma. J Transl Med 2017; 97:746-759. [PMID: 28240745 DOI: 10.1038/labinvest.2017.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2016] [Revised: 01/17/2017] [Accepted: 01/20/2017] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Angiotropism is a marker of extravascular migration of melanoma cells along vascular and other structures and a prognostic factor in cutaneous melanoma. Because of this biological and prognostic importance in cutaneous melanoma, angiotropism was studied in uveal melanoma (UM). This retrospective study performed at a single ocular oncology referral center included 89 patients from the study period 2006-2008. All patients were diagnosed with UM from the choroid and/or ciliary body. All patients underwent enucleation for prognostic purposes and definitive therapy. Clinical, histopathological, and molecular variables included patient age, gender, extraocular extension, tumor location (ciliary body or not), optic nerve invasion, angiotropism, neurotropism, melanoma cell type, BAP1 mutation, and monosomy 3. Angiotropism was defined as melanoma cells arrayed along the abluminal vascular surfaces without intravasation in the sclera and/or episcleral tissue. The study included 51 women (57.3%) and 38 men with mean and median age: 63 years (range: 25-92). Mean follow-up was 4.4 years (range: 0.2 to 11). Fifty-three (59.6%) patients developed metastases and 48 (53.9%) were dead from metastases at last follow-up. Other principal variables recorded were angiotropism in 43.8%, extraocular extension in 7.9%, epithelioid/mixed cell type in 73.1%, BAP1 mutation in 41.3%, and monosomy 3 in 53.6% of cases. On multivariate analysis, extraocular extension, angiotropism, and monosomy 3 were predictive of metastasis, whereas tumor diameter, epithelioid cell type, angiotropism, and monosomy 3 were predictive of death. Chi-square test confirmed an association between angiotropism and metastasis and death but none with BAP1 mutation and monosomy 3. In conclusion, angiotropism and monosomy 3 were independent prognostic factors for both metastases and death in UM. However, irrespective of any prognostic value, the true importance of angiotropism is its biological significance as a marker of an alternative metastatic pathway.Laboratory Investigation advance online publication, 27 February 2017; doi:10.1038/labinvest.2017.16.
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Moy AP, Duncan LM, Kraft S. Lymphatic invasion and angiotropism in primary cutaneous melanoma. J Transl Med 2017; 97:118-129. [PMID: 27991909 DOI: 10.1038/labinvest.2016.131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2016] [Revised: 10/24/2016] [Accepted: 11/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Access of melanoma cells to the cutaneous vasculature either via lymphatic invasion or angiotropism is a proposed mechanism for metastasis. Lymphatic invasion is believed to be a mechanism by which melanoma cells can disseminate to regional lymph nodes and to distant sites and may be predictive of adverse outcomes. Although it can be detected on hematoxylin- and eosin-stained sections, sensitivity is markedly improved by immunohistochemistry for lymphatic endothelial cells. Multiple studies have reported a significant association between the presence of lymphatic invasion and sentinel lymph node metastasis and survival. More recently, extravascular migratory metastasis has been suggested as another means by which melanoma cells can spread. Angiotropism, the histopathologic correlate of extravascular migratory metastasis, has also been associated with melanoma metastasis and disease recurrence. Although lymphatic invasion and angiotropism are not currently part of routine melanoma reporting, the detection of these attributes using ancillary immunohistochemical stains may be useful in therapeutic planning for patients with melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea P Moy
- Dermatopathology Unit, Pathology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lyn M Duncan
- Dermatopathology Unit, Pathology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Stefan Kraft
- Dermatopathology Unit, Pathology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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Angiotropism, pericytic mimicry and extravascular migratory metastasis in melanoma: an alternative to intravascular cancer dissemination. CANCER MICROENVIRONMENT 2014; 7:139-52. [PMID: 25304454 DOI: 10.1007/s12307-014-0156-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2014] [Accepted: 10/01/2014] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
For more than 15 years, angiotropism in melanoma has been emphasized as a marker of extravascular migration of tumor cells along the abluminal vascular surface, unveiling an alternative mechanism of tumor spread distinct from intravascular dissemination. This mechanism has been termed extravascular migratory metastasis (EVMM). During EVMM, angiotropic tumor cells migrate in a 'pericytic-like' manner (pericytic mimicry) along the external surfaces of vascular channels, without intravasation. Through this pathway, melanoma cells may spread to nearby or more distant sites. Angiotropism is a prognostic factor predicting risk for metastasis in human melanoma, and a marker of EVMM in several experimental models. Importantly, analogies of EVMM and pericytic mimicry include neural crest cell migration, vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, and recent studies have suggested that the interaction between melanoma cells and the abluminal vascular surface induce differential expression of genes reminiscent of cancer migration and embryonic/stem cell state transitions. A recent work revealed that repetitive UV exposure of primary cutaneous melanomas in a genetically engineered mouse model promotes metastatic progression via angiotropism and migration along the abluminal vascular surface. Finally, recent data using imaging of melanoma cells in a murine model have shown the progression of tumor cells along the vascular surfaces. Taken together, these data provide support for the biological phenomenon of angiotropism and EVMM, which may open promising new strategies for reducing or preventing melanoma metastasis.
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Lugassy C, Barnhill RL. Angiotropism and extravascular migratory metastasis in melanoma: from concept to gene expression. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.1586/edm.11.24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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9
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Lugassy C, Péault B, Wadehra M, Kleinman HK, Barnhill RL. Could pericytic mimicry represent another type of melanoma cell plasticity with embryonic properties? Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 2013; 26:746-54. [PMID: 23789776 DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.12120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2013] [Accepted: 05/22/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
We hypothesize that the interaction between angiotropic melanoma cells and the abluminal vascular surface can induce or sustain embryonic and/or stem cell migratory properties in these tumor cells. As a result, such angiotropic melanoma cells may migrate along the abluminal vascular surface, demonstrating pericytic mimicry. Through these cellular interactions, melanoma cells may migrate toward secondary sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Lugassy
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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