Usefulness of serum 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa as a biomarker for predicting prognosis and detecting relapse in patients with advanced stage malignant melanoma

• Published in: Journal of dermatology Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 449 - 454
• Main Authors: Umemura, Hiroshi, Yamasaki, Osamu, Kaji, Tatsuya, Otsuka, Masaki, Asagoe, Kenji, Takata, Minoru, Iwatsuki, Keiji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-04-2017
• Subjects: 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa; biomarker; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Cysteinyldopa - blood; Dihydroxyphenylalanine; Drug development; Feasibility Studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Immune checkpoint; Immunosuppressive agents; Japan - epidemiology; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kinases; L-Lactate dehydrogenase; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - blood; lactate dehydrogenase; Lactic acid; Male; malignant melanoma; MAP kinase; Medical prognosis; Melanoma; Melanoma - blood; Melanoma - mortality; Melanoma - pathology; Metastases; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - blood; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - mortality; Neoplasm Staging; Prognosis; Protein kinase; Retrospective Studies; serum 5‐S‐CD; Skin cancer; Skin Neoplasms - blood; Skin Neoplasms - mortality; Skin Neoplasms - pathology; Therapeutic applications; serum 5-S-CD; lactate dehydrogenase; malignant melanoma; biomarker; 5-S-cysteinyl-dopa
• ISSN: 0385-2407; 1346-8138
• DOI: 10.1111/1346-8138.13651

With the recent development of novel molecular targeted drugs for advanced stage malignant melanoma (MM), including RAF and mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockers, the early detection of relapse is important for managing patients with MM. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed two conventional serum biomarkers, 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa and lactate dehydrogenase, in patients with MM (n = 140) who were treated at a single Japanese institute from June 2007 to June 2015. At the initial hospital visit, serum 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa levels were significantly increased in patients with stages III (n = 38) and IV (n = 20) MM compared with patients with stages 0–II (n = 62) MM. In addition, in patients with stages III and IV MM, serum 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa levels of more than 15.0 nmol/L at initial hospital visit correlated with a poor prognosis. In 11 of 14 patients whose disease progressed during follow up (mostly from stages III–IV), serum 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa levels exceeded the normal limit of 10.0 nmol/L during the clinical detection of distant metastases. These results indicate the usefulness of measuring serum 5‐S‐cysteinyl‐dopa levels at initial hospital visit and during follow up for early and effective therapeutic interventions using newly developed molecular targeted drugs.