Prognostic significance of MIB-1 proliferative activity in thin melanomas and immunohistochemical analysis of MIB-1 proliferative activity in melanocytic tumors

Abstract

Metastasis from thin melanomas is rare and unpredictable. In order to assess the prognostic value of the proliferation marker, MIB-1, immunohistochemical staining was evaluated in a retrospective case-control study of 11 thin melanomas with documented metastasis and 11 control tumors that failed to metastasize. Tumors selected were <1-mm thick and were individually matched for tumor thickness, date of excision, and patient age and sex. Analysis of MIB-1 expression as both a mean and a maximum level for the case and control groups revealed no association with metastasis. Wilcoxon's matched-pairs signed-rank test had p-values of 0.45 for the maximum values and 0.79 for the mean values. For the..