THE NUMBER OF FOXP3S FOUND IN PRIMARY MELANOMA IS ASSOCIATED WITH TUMOR PROGRESSION
Main Article Content
Keywords
Regulatory T cells, tumour progression, Melanoma, FOXP3, prognostic marker.
Abstract
The prognosis of melanoma, one of the deadliest skin cancers, is poor especially in the later stages of the disease. In the tumor microenvironment, regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an important role in immunosuppression, especially those that express FOXP3 (forkhead box protein 3). It is the aim of this paper to examine the prognostic value of FOXP3 expression in primary melanoma and its relationship to important survival outcomes, including cancer-specific survival (CSS), progression-free survival (PFS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Through Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses, 150 melanoma patients were examined for their expression of FOXP3 and its effect on survival. There is an association between high levels of FOXP3 expression and poor prognoses for cancer patients, pointing to the role that FOXP3-expressing Tregs play in the tumor progression process. FOXP3 levels were associated with relatively poor survival rates, especially in patients who did not have distant metastasis. In conclusion, FOXP3 expression may be used independently as an indicator of melanoma's prognosis and can be used to stratify patients more effectively and provide them with more customized treatment options. FOXP3's clinical usefulness as a prognostic factor needs to be further investigated.
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Dr Modepalli Pavan Kumar
Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry - 605502.
