Development of a novel noninvasive adhesive patch test for the evaluation of pigmented lesions of the skin

BackgroundThe accurate clinical assessment of melanocytic neoplasms is a challenge for clinicians. Currently, obtaining a biopsy specimen and conducting a histologic examination is the standard of care. The incidence of melanoma in white populations is high, resulting in a large number of biopsy specimens.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to develop a noninvasive genomic method using mRNA to classify pigmented skin lesions as either benign or malignant.MethodsAn adhesive patch method was used to obtain cells from the surface of melanocytic lesions. mRNA was extracted and a genomic signature was formulated in a training set of benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasms and subsequently tested in a validation set.ResultsA 2-gene signature assessing the expression levels of CMIP and LINC00518 was able to differentiate melanomas from nevi in an independent validation set of 42 melanomas and 22 nevi with a sensitivity of 97.6% and specificity of 72.7%.LimitationsLarger and more diverse sets of melanomas and nevi are needed for additional validation of the molecular expression profiling in various subsets of melanocytic neoplasms.ConclusionOur data suggest that mRNA molecular signatures can serve as a highly useful noninvasive method of differentiating melanoma from nevi and decrease the number of unnecessary biopsies. The accurate clinical assessment of melanocytic neoplasms is a challenge for clinicians. Currently, obtaining a biopsy specimen and conducting a histologic examination is the standard of care. The incidence of melanoma in white populations is high, resulting in a large number of biopsy specimens. The objective of this study is to develop a noninvasive genomic method using mRNA to classify pigmented skin lesions as either benign or malignant. An adhesive patch method was used to obtain cells from the surface of melanocytic lesions. mRNA was extracted and a genomic signature was formulated in a training set of benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasms and subsequently tested in a validation set. A 2-gene signature assessing the expression levels of CMIP and LINC00518 was able to differentiate melanomas from nevi in an independent validation set of 42 melanomas and 22 nevi with a sensitivity of 97.6% and specificity of 72.7%. Larger and more diverse sets of melanomas and nevi are needed for additional validation of the molecular expression profiling in various subsets of melanocytic neoplasms. Our data suggest that mRNA molecular signatures can serve as a highly useful noninvasive method of differentiating melanoma from nevi and decrease the number of unnecessary biopsies.