Assessment of Circulating Tumor Cells and microRNAs in Patients With Metastatic Non-cutaneous Melanoma

Assessment of Circulating Tumor Cells and microRNAs in Patients With Metastatic Non-cutaneous Melanoma

the study aims to implement new approaches for the identification of circulating tumor cells and circulating microRNAs, which aim to silence the expression of genes and thus prevent the production of proteins in patients with advanced melanoma (uval, mucosal, of unknown origin). It also aims to verify whether their expression can be related to the prognosis of the disease and the response to treatments.

Here we propose a study to identify a technique for the isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples of patients with diagnosis of metastatic melanoma (uveal, mucosal, from primary unknown) to identify a potential role of CTCs and to study the role for circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in the management of metastatic UM, MM and MUP.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of UM, MM or MUP
• Diagnosis of metastatic disease
• Age ≥ 18 years, at the time of the tissue collection

Exclusion Criteria:

• Personal medical history of concomitant other cancer