NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When primary melanoma is diagnosed, high blood levels of the protein HU177, associated with angiogenesis, the growth of tumor blood vessels, identifies a subset of patients with poor prognosis, according to research to be presented Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Orlando.
“HU177 increases a tumor’s capacity to grow and spread and there is a lot of preclinical data that show how this marker contributes to angiogenesis,” study presenter Dr. Iman Osman of New York University School of Medicine noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.
“Our data with long follow-up shows that higher levels of HU177 correlate with recurrence and death in melanoma patients,” Osman added.
Among 209 melanoma patients whose blood levels of HU177 were determined at diagnosis, 38 (18 percent) developed recurrences and 34 (16 percent) died during an average follow-up of 54.9 months.
Upon further analysis, blood HU177 levels greater than 3.7 nanograms per microliter (the average level) were associated with a significantly higher rate of melanoma recurrence and increased mortality, the investigators found.
After consideration of other potentially influential factors, such as tumor thickness and tissue type, HU177 levels remained an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival and overall survival.
“Testing for this marker in the blood at the time of diagnosis can help us determine what will happen to this patient and may help direct treatment,” Osman said.
We need to consider anti-angiogenic therapy after primary treatment, not necessarily anti-HU177 therapy, early on for patients with detectable HU177 in the blood “and not wait until the tumor metastasizes and becomes very aggressive,” Osman added.
