Liquid biomarkers in melanoma: detection and discovery

Table 2 Clinical biomarkers for the prognosis and prediction of melanoma

	Characteristics	Associated with worse outcomes	Reference
Prognostic biomarkers
Primary melanoma	Thickness	Thick melanomas	[147]
	Ulceration	Present	[147]
	Histology	Nodular and acral subtype	[148]
	Mitotic rate	Presence of mitosis	[149]
	Age	> 60	[147, 149]
	Site	Trunk, head and neck	[147, 149]
	Mutation status	BRAF or NRAS positive	[150]
Stage III melanoma	Lymph node stage (AJCC)	IIIC	[151]
	Nodal status	Increased number of positive lymph nodes	[147]
	Tumor burden	Macroscopic disease	[147]
	Ulceration on primary melanoma	Present	[147]
	Extracapsular extension	Present	[151]
Metastatic melanoma	Distant metastatic site	Visceral metastasis	[147, 152]
	Number of visceral metastasis	≥ 2	[152, 153]
	LDH	Above upper limit of normal	[152, 153]
	Serum albumin	< 3.5 g/deciliter	[153]
	ECOG performance status	≥ 1	[152]
	Hematological parameters	Abnormal platelets	[152]
Predictive biomarkers
MAPK therapy	BRAF Status	No BRAF V600 mutation	[131]
	LDH	Above upper limit of normal	[19]
	ECOG performance status	≥ 1	[19]
	Number of organ sites containing metastases	≥ 3	[19]
	Sites of disease	Visceral only	[19]
	Baseline disease stage	IVM1c	[19]
	Sum of lesion diameter	≥ median (58 mm)	[19]
Immunotherapy	LDH	Above upper limit of normal	[154]
	Baseline tumor size	≥ median (102 mm)	[154]
	Stage	IVM1a or IVM1c	[154]

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