BACKGROUND:

Sinonasal mucosal melanoma (SNMM) is a lethal malignancy with poor prognosis. Treatment outcomes of SNMM are poor. Novel prognostic or progression markers are needed to help adjust therapy.

METHODS:

RNA-seq was used to analyze the mRNA expression of tumor tissues and normal nasal mucosa from primary SNMM patients ( n = 3). Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the results of RNA-seq ( n = 3), while protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC, n = 31) and western blotting ( n = 3). Retrospective studies were designed to determine the clinical parameters and the total survival rate, and correlation between the protein expression levels of the most significant key genes and prognosis was analyzed.

RESULTS:

In total, 668 genes were upregulated and 869 genes were downregulated in SNMM (fold change ⩾ 2, adjusted p value < 0.01). Both mRNA and protein expression levels of the key genes in SNMM tumor tissues were higher than those in the normal control nasal mucosal tissues. The expression rates of TYRP1, ABCB5, and MMP17 in 31 primary SNMM cases were 90.32%, 80.65%, and 64.52%, respectively. In addition, age, typical symptoms, and AJCC stage were related to overall survival rate of patients with SNMM ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, the expression of ABCB5 was age-related ( p = 0.002). Compared with individuals with negative ABCB5 expression, those with positive expression exhibited significantly poor overall survival ( p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION:

The expression levels of TYRP1, ABCB5, and MMP17 were significantly upregulated in SNMM tissues, and the expression of ABCB5 was related to poor prognosis in SNMM. Thus, ABCB5 may serve as a progression marker and can predict unfavorable prognosis in patients with SNMM.