Clinical significance of serum Protease-Activated Receptor-1 (PAR-1) levels in patients with cutaneous melanoma

BACKGROUND Protease-Activated Receptor-1 (PAR-1) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple malignancies and its expression strongly also affects the outcomes of cancer patients. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of PAR-1in cutaneous melanoma patients. METHODS A total of 60 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma were enrolled into this study. Serum PAR-1concentrations were determined by the solid-phase sandwich ELISA method. RESULTS No significant difference in serum PAR-1 levels between melanoma patients and healthy controls was found (p = 0.07). The known clinical variables including age of patient, gender, site of lesion, histology, stage of disease, serum LDH levels and chemotherapy responsiveness were not correlated with serum PAR-1 concentrations (p > 0.05). Likewise, serum PAR-1 concentration had also no prognostic role on survival (p = 0.41). CONCLUSION Serum levels of PAR-1 have no diagnostic, predictive and prognostic roles in cutaneous melanoma patients. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE Measurement of PAR-1 in serum is not a clinical significance in cutaneous melanoma patients.