Methylated genes as biomarkers for melanoma prognosis

Abstract

Melanoma is a rare but deadly form of skin cancer. Currently, patients undergo excision surgery, followed by adjuvant treatment if the cancer has metastasized. To estimate the prognosis of the disease, pathological examination is performed to assess histological features, however, it has been shown that this provides poor accuracy. For this reason, studying the involved molecular mechanisms exhibit a great potential to refine the prognosis. Epigenetic features, such as DNA methylation patterns have the advantage of stability and easy detection. Recent reports have demonstrated that DNA methylation patterns could serve as biomarkers for melanoma prognosis, however much remains unexplored. This review presents an overview of the current knowledge on using methylation as a biomarker for melanoma prognosis. We identified 33 genes whose methylation state correlates with patients' survival. Based on significance, reliability, and independence eleven promising genes are selected for their high prognostic potential: ANGPT2, SIX1, PD-L1, FBLN1, PON3, PTEN, TNFRSF10D, HERV-K, ICOS, SYNPO2, and VEGFC. These genes could potentially aid the prognosis of melanoma, which has substantial consequences for the treatment and survival of individual patients.