Investigation of the relationship between MDM2 expression and tumor thickness and invasion in primary cutaneous malignant melanoma

Malignant melanoma is the most invasive cutaneous tumor, and it is still associated with an incredibly high mortality rate. The most reliable histological factors associated with melanoma prognosis are tumor thickness, which is measured with the Breslow index, and invasion depth, which is measured by the Clark level. The murine double minute 2 (MDM2) gene inhibits P53-dependent apoptosis. An increase in MDM2 expression has been found in many tumors. This study aimed to investigate MDM2 expression in malignant melanoma and its correlation with tumor thickness and invasion level. This study assessed paraffin blocks from 43 randomly selected patients with primary cutaneous melanoma referred to the main university pathology center. The MDM2 expression rate was assessed via immunohistochemical techniques, and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining were used to determine tumor thickness and invasion level. Correlation analysis for tumor thickness and invasion and MDM2 expression were performed using SPSS software. The mean patient age was 61.2 ± 15 years; 55.8% of patients were men and 44.2% women. The rate of MDM2 positivity was 28.9%. There was a direct relationship between MDM2 expression and tumor thickness (r = 0.425, p = 0.002) and a weak relationship between MDM2 expression and invasion level (r = 0.343, p = 0.01). Despite the low MDM2 expression rate observed in this study, a direct relationship between MDM2 positivity and tumor thickness and invasion level was identified, suggesting a potential new predictive prognostic factor.