An analysis of p16 tumour suppressor gene expression in acral lentiginous melanoma

Acral lentiginous melanoma is a particularly aggressive melanocytic lesion but, due to its comparative rarity, biological investigations into the beha viour of this subtype of melanoma are lacking. The activity of the recently described p16 tumour suppressor gene, thought to be the 'familial melanoma gene', was studied in 24 patients with subungual melanoma and 44 patients with plantar melanoma. Lower levels of p16 oncoprotein were demonstrated th an that found in other histogenetic types of melanoma. Stratification of pa tients of all disease stages revealed a poorer survival in patients with lo w p16 expression (log rank test, chi(2) = 3.9, P = 0.05). These data sugges t that p16 inactivation may play an important role in the development and p rogression of acral lentiginous melanomas. However, the level of p16 expres sion was not prognostic since survival analysis on stratification of stage I patients according to p16 level did not reach statistical significance fo r both survival and disease free interval. (C) 2000 The British Association of Plastic Surgeons.