Osteopontin and `Melanoma Inhibitory Activity': Comparison of Two Serological Tumor Markers in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Patients

Background: Evaluation of the protein osteopontin (OPN) as a
potential new marker in comparison to melanoma inhibitory activity
(MIA) for screening and detection of metastatic uveal melanoma.
Methods: Plasma levels of 32 patients with uveal melanoma were
analyzed for OPN and MIA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
(ELISA). Fourteen of these patients had clinically detectable liver
metastases. Results: Median plasma concentration of OPN in patients
with metastatic disease was 152.01 ng/ml compared to 47.39 ng/ml in
patients without clinically detectable metastases (p < 0.001).
The difference between the median MIA plasma levels in patients
with (13.11 ng/ml) and patients without (5.64 ng/ml) metastatic
disease was also statistically significant (p < 0.001). No
correlation could be found between MIA or OPN levels and tumor
height in patients without clinically detectable metastases.
Conclusion: The proteins MIA and OPN seem to be promising tumor
markers for the metastasis screening in patients with uveal
melanoma. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel