Dorothea Polydorou

p53 codon 72 Pro homozygosity increases the risk of cutaneous melanoma in individuals with dark skin complexion and among noncarriers of melanocortin 1 receptor red hair variants

Background  p53 has a common polymorphism at amino acid 72, encoding either arginine or proline. p53Arg and p53Pro exhibit differences in various biological activities, such as cell‐cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis. Numerous epidemiological studies have examined the role of this polymorphism in several human malignancies, including cutaneous cancers, with contradictory results.

Seasonal pattern of the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma: a hospital‐based study in a Mediterranean country

Background  Several investigators have described a seasonal variation in the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma. Limited data exist on the seasonality of melanoma diagnosis in Southern European countries.

Evaluation of self-assessed melanoma growth rate in a Mediterranean patient population.

Recent studies have suggested that melanoma growth rate (GR), based on patient recall, may be a relevant, safe, and cost-free source of information on prognosis [1,2]. It has been also reported that rapid growth of primary cutaneous melanoma is associated with aggressive histologic features as well as atypical clinical features [3]. The theory was further supported by a recent study that demonstrated a significant correlation between patientrecall-based GR and objective assessments of melanoma proliferation, using immunohistochemical markers, such as Ki67 and PH3, at the time of excision [4]. Greece, is a country with a low ambient melanoma incidence, with a highly reported rate of nodular melanomas and thick tumors at diagnosis [5,6]. The aims of our study were to apply the GR index in Greek melanoma patients, and to assess its value as a prognostic marker for survival.

Low to moderate cumulative doses of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in the treatment of classic Kaposi sarcoma in elderly patients with comorbidities

and NMSC (SMR = 3Æ48) were again overrepresented in group C and other studies have shown that patients with a history of NMSC have an increased risk of both noncutaneous cancers as well as melanomas, speculating about surveillance bias, defect DNA repair mechanisms and UV-induced mutations in p53 or in cell cycle regulating genes. In conclusion, our study indicates an increased cancer risk, independent of index mutation status and mainly due to CMM, among relatives of patients with four or more tumours including CMM. Larger data sets are needed to confirm our observed tendency of NST and NMSC in relatives of nonmutation carriers, the risk of pancreatic cancer associated to CDKN2A mutation and to find out more about the genetic and environmental influences determining cancer risk.

P111 Evaluation of self-assessed rate of growth of melanoma in a Mediterranean population

Patients and methods Patients diagnosed with CM and followed up at two melanoma centers in Athens were eligible to participate in the study. Phenotypic skin features and clinical parameters as well as environmental exposures were recorded. The ROG index was calculated using a previously described assessment tool. The Wilcoxon rank-sum or the chi square tests were used to assess the presence of association between ROG and other variables. Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used to assess whether ROG was associated with patients’ survival.