Expression changes of multiple marker genes and analysis of circulating tumour cells and dehydrogenase for prognostic and pharmacodynamic measures

Abstract

Objectives: The main objectives of the studies are to analyze melanoma markers from the tumour and blood samples. Methods: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was assayed from the serum sample to determine metastatic melanoma. The prevalence of circulating tumour cells was explored in tumour subjects and compared with non-tumour cases. Expression analysis of TGF-β and cathepsin-K was determined from the non-melanoma and melanoma cases using western blotting analysis. Results: The amount of LDH was elevated in most metastatic patients (p < 0.0001). About 10% of patients were associated with the micrometastatic stage and 16.3% of patients were linked with multiple melanomas. The amount of ctDNA considerably declined at <0.01% level after one month of clinical development. The amount of ctDNA in the blood in an initial stage indicates resistance to specific targeted therapy. Expression of S100 level also decreased after two weeks of treatment. TGF-β showed maximum variation in mRNA expression between diseased and healthy cases, whereas, an increased amount of cathepsin-K biosynthesis was observed in tumour tissues (p < 0.001). Conclusions: MDH, ctDNA, TGF-β and S100 could be potential markers to predict early determination of tumour and non-tumour tissues. Monitoring of ctDNA and S100 is useful to analyze the health benefits of melanoma patients.

Keywords

• Melanoma
• Cathepsin-K
• Circulating tumour DNA
• Basal cell carcinoma