Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Malignant melanoma is a challenging illness for researchers due to unknown hormonal disorders involved in promoting/developing this disease. Some authors accept nowadays, that prolactin is involved in extrapituitary carcinogenesis.

The authors aimed to study the status of prolactin in patients with melanocytic lesions and the impact of surgical removal on prolactinemia.

Method: The study included 128 adults with melanoma and 48 with dysplastic nevi. All the patients were evaluated before, and after surgical removal of the tumor. The control group involved 48 healthy participants. All the groups were homogenous for age and sex.

Prolactin (chemiluminescent method by access immunoassay systems) was evaluated at diagnosis (preoperative) and 8 weeks after surgical removal.

Results: High levels of prolactin were determined in patients with melanoma comparative with prolactin in patients with dysplastic nevi (10.55±8.50 vs 5.94±2.87 ng/ml 95% CI, P<0.01) and in the control group (10.55±8.50 vs 5.74±3.66 ng/ml, 95% CI, P<0.01). The statistical analysis showed no significant correlations between prolactin variation and tumor characteristics (site tumor, histological type, presence/absence of ulceration, Clark level, Breslow index).

Prolactin variation before and after the surgical removal was statistically significant (10.55±8.50 vs 9.23±5.43 ng/ml 95% CI, P<0.01), while prolactin did not vary significantly in dysplastic nevi group.

Conclusions: High levels of prolactin were detected in patients with melanoma, levels that decreased after surgical removal of tumor. These results sustain the idea that prolactin is an active participant in tumor development. The data of our study could permit the development of new therapeutic targets that can block the effect of prolactin by decreasing the local production of prolactin, or by blocking its receptors.