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J Cancer 2023; 14(4):628-633. doi:10.7150/jca.82389 This issue Cite

Research Paper

PReferentially Expressed Antigen in MElanoma (PRAME): preliminary communication on a translational tool able to early detect Oral Malignant Melanoma (OMM)

Eliano Cascardi^1,2*, Gerardo Cazzato^3*, Giuseppe Ingravallo³, Miriam Dellino⁴, Carmelo Lupo⁵, Nadia Casatta⁵, Andrea Ballini⁶, Andrea Pacifici⁷, Gaetano Marenzi^8#, Gilberto Sammartino^8#, Eugenio Maiorano^3#, Marco Tatullo^{8,9,10,11#✉}

1. Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy.
2. Pathology Unit, FPO-IRCCS Candiolo Cancer Institute, 10123 Candiolo, Italy.
3. Section of Molecular Pathology Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area (DiMePRe-J), University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, 70124, Italy.
4. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy.
5. Innovation Department, Diapath S.p.A., Via Savoldini n.71, 24057 Martinengo, Italy.
6. Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Naples, Italy.
7. Department of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00195 Rome, Italy.
8. Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences, University “Federico II” of Naples, via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
9. Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience (DiBraiN), University of Bari ALDO MORO, 70124 Bari, Italy.
10. Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer— University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland DD1 4HR, UK.
11. Founder Member of MIRROR—Medical Institute for Regeneration and Repairing and Organ Replacement, Interdepartmental Center, University of Bari ALDO MORO, 70124 Bari, Italy.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
# These authors contributed equally to this work.

✉ Corresponding author: Prof. Marco Tatullo, Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience (DiBraiN), University of Bari ALDO MORO, 70124 Bari, Italy. E-mail address: marco.tatulloit

Abstract

Oral malignant melanoma (OMM) has a prevalence less than 1% of all melanomas and it commonly develops on the oral mucosa following a slow and unspecific transformation of unstable melanocytic lesions, often resulting in a diagnostic delay. The marker PReferentially Expressed Antigen in MElanoma (PRAME) seems to be a valid tool to investigate the biological and histological nature of cutaneous melanocytic lesions, but to date its use to characterize pigmented lesions in the oral cavity is largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to create preliminary knowledge on the PRAME expression in OMM, and to compare its expression respect to other dysplastic pigmented lesions of the oral cavity. Interestingly, PRAME has been demonstrated to be reliable in the clinical conditions investigated in our pilot study; in fact, it has clearly differentiated the cases of Melanoma, which showed diffuse and intense positivity (score 6+/7+) to PRAME, from the other melanocytic nevi, which resulted to be mainly negative to PRAME. This means a better differential diagnosis, a reliable early diagnosis and a proper clinical/surgical management of the oncological lesions. In conclusion, PRAME can be a valid qualitative marker for differential diagnosis, not only in cutaneous melanomas, but also in malignant melanoma of the entire head and neck area.

Keywords: Oral Malignant Melanoma, Early diagnosis, Differential Diagnosis.

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