Genes predict advanced melanoma outcome

NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say it might be possible to identify the survival chances of advanced melanoma patients by analyzing their genetic activity.

Researchers at New York University's Langone Medical Center said although the chances of surviving advanced melanoma aren't very good with current therapies, some patients can live for years with cancer that has spread beyond the skin to other organs.

In the study, the researchers used a technique called DNA-microarray technology to find 266 genes associated with shorter or longer survival among 38 patients whose melanomas had recurred after being surgically removed.

Such genetic information may help decide the best course of treatment for patients with advanced disease.

"If we could actually understand what was happening in those patients, within the tumor itself, perhaps we'd be able to help them in terms of what therapy they might go on," said Dr. Nina Bhardwaj, the study's senior author.

"We found that patients who survived longer had gene activity consistent with an immune response," Bhardwaj said. "Patients who didn't survive as long didn't have an up-regulation of those genes, but tended to have higher levels of genes associated with cell proliferation, suggesting that if your cells are growing more actively, the tumor is going to grow faster."

The study, led by graduate student Dusan Bogunovic, appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.