Diagnostic, Prognostic and Predictive Immunohistochemistry in Malignant Melanoma of the Skin

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Klin Onkol 2018; 31(2): 152-155.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is an excellent technique for labeling detection of selected cell proteins, which exploits the principle of antigen-antibody specific binding in biological tissues [1]. First implemented by Albert Coons in 1941 [2], over time it had achieved great success for diagnostic purposes (diagnostic IHC), then for prognostic ones (prognostic IHC) [3]. Several molecular pathways are altered in skin melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers and some of these can be targeted in oncotherapy [1]. Therefore, IHC application has increased and can predict those tumors which are likely to respond to targeted cancer therapy (predictive IHC), by detecting the presence or high expression levels of altered gene products.

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