HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Fli-1 expression in malignant melanoma

Emina E. Torlakovic1, Ana Slipicevic2, Vivi Ann Flørenes2, Richa Chibbar3, John F. DeCoteau1 and Nurija Bilalovic4

1Department of Pathology, Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, 2Department of Pathology, The Norwegian Radium Hospital HF, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 3University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada and 4Department of Pathology, University Hospital Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Offprint requests to: Emina Emilia Torlakovic, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pathology, Royal University Hospital, 103 Hospital Drive Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0W8, Canada. e-mail: emt323@mail.usask.ca


Summary. Friend leukemia integration site 1 (Fli-1) has been reported as the first nuclear marker of endothelial differentiation; it is expressed in leukocytes and recently demonstrated in melanomas. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 97 melanomas including 69 cases of primary and 28 metastatic melanomas were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Five melanoma cell lines were evaluated by Western blot and immunocytochemistry. Fli-1 expression was observed in all cell lines. Fli-1 expression was higher in metastatic than in primary tumors (r=0.208, p=0.041, Spearman correlation), it positively correlated with Ki-67 expression (r=0.233, p=0.022, Spearman correlation), and the presence of an ulcer in the primary tumor (r=0.267, p=0.030, Spearman correlation). Therefore, the expression of Fli-1 in malignant melanoma appears to be associated with biologically more aggressive tumors. Histol Histopathol 23, 1309-1314 (2008)

Key words: Fli-1, Melanoma

DOI: 10.14670/HH-23.1309