Abstract
Caveolins are the principal protein component of caveolae, plasma membrane invaginations found in most cell types. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) plays a major role in oncogenesis through its various functions in lipid transport, membrane trafficking and signal transduction. Increased expression of Cav-1 in tumor cells has been associated with aggressiveness and poor survival. More recently, loss of stromal Cav-1 expression was linked to poor survival and increased metastatic potential in breast and prostate cancer. To date, there is no study addressing the clinical significance of Cav-1 expression in malignant melanoma (MM). Our study consisted of 44 cases of MM: 12 MM lymph node metastases from patients with short survival, 12 MM lymph node metastases from patients with long survival and 20 primary MM. All cases were stained with Cav?1 antibodies. Cav-1 expression in melanoma and stromal cells was quantified using a 3 point scale: 0 = no staining, 1 = diffuse weak staining or strong staining in <30% of cells and 2 = diffuse strong staining. A score of 0-1 represented low Cav-1 expression and a score of 2 represented high Cav-1 expression. In patients with MM lymph node metastases, a low stromal Cav-1 expression was associated with shorter survival when compared with the high stromal Cav-1 expression group (median survival 252 days vs. 3,508 days, p-value 0.005). Conversely, high Cav-1 expression in melanoma cells was associated with a longer survival in primary MM (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, high expression of stromal Cav-1 correlates with longer survival in malignant melanoma metastases and high expression of Cav-1 in melanoma cells correlates with longer survival in primary malignant melanoma.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 4250-4255 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Cell Cycle |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 24 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 15 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Caveolin-1
- Melanoma
- Metastases
- Stroma
- Survival
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology