Table 4.
Relationship of TERT-positivity to clinicopathologic features in primary melanomas (n = 86)*
| Clinicopathologic Feature | TERT-negative (n=19) | TERT-positive (n=67) | P-value† |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number (%) | Number (%) | ||
| Sex | |||
| Male | 13 (23.6) | 42 (76.4) | 0.79 |
| Female | 6 (19.4) | 25 (80.7) | |
| Age, years | |||
| < 65 | 15 (34.1) | 29 (65.9) | 0.005 |
| ≥ 65 | 4 (9.5) | 38 (90.5) | |
| Race | |||
| Whites of European origin | 14 (18.2) | 63 (81.8) | 0.02 |
| Other/Unknown | 5 (55.6) | 4 (44.4) | |
| Histologic subtype | |||
| Superficial Spreading | 9 (20.9) | 34 (79.1) | 0.01 |
| Nodular | 2 (16.7) | 10 (83.3) | |
| Lentigo maligna | 2 (12.5) | 14 (87.5) | |
| Acral lentiginous | 5 (83.3) | 1 (16.7) | |
| Other/unclassified‡ | 1 (11.1) | 8 (89.9) | |
| Site | |||
| Head/neck | 4 (14.3) | 24 (85.7) | <.001 |
| Trunk | 6 (22.2) | 21 (77.8) | |
| Upper extremities | 0 | 16 (100.0) | |
| Lower extremities | 9 (60.0) | 6 (40.0) | |
| Solar elastosis | |||
| Absent | 9 (42.9) | 12 (57.1) | 0.03 |
| Present | 9 (15.3) | 50 (84.8) | |
| Indeterminant | 1 (16.7) | 5 (83.3) | |
| Contiguous nevus | |||
| Absent | 17 (22.7) | 58 (77.3) | 1.00 |
| Present | 2 (18.2) | 9 (81.8) | |
| Breslow thickness (mm) | |||
| 0.01 to 2.00 | 8 (17.8) | 37 (82.2) | 0.44 |
| > 2.00 | 11 (26.8) | 30 (73.2) | |
| Ulceration | |||
| Absent | 12 (23.1) | 40 (76.9) | 0.85 |
| Present | 7 (21.2) | 26 (78.8) | |
| Indeterminant | 0 | 1 (100.0) | |
| Mitoses | |||
| Absent | 3 (17.7) | 14 (82.4) | 0.75 |
| Present | 16 (23.2) | 53 (76.8) | |
| AJCC tumor stage at diagnosis (8th edition) | |||
| T1a/T1b/T2a | 7 (18.4) | 31 (81.6) | 0.60 |
| T2b/T3a/T3b/T4a/T4b | 12 (25.0) | 36 (75.0) | |
| AJCC overall stage at diagnosis (8th edition) | |||
| IA/IB | 5 (14.7) | 29 (85.3) | 0.48 |
| IIA/IIB/IIC | 5 (26.3) | 14 (73.7) | |
| IIIA/IIIB/IIIC | 6 (24.0) | 19 (76.0) | |
| IV | 1 (33.3) | 2 (66.7) | |
| Unknown | 2 (40.0) | 3 (60.0) | |
| Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte grade | |||
| Absent | 5 (25.0) | 15 (75.0) | 0.82 |
| Present | 14 (21.5) | 51 (78.5) | |
| Indeterminant | 0 | 1 (100) | |
| Pigment | |||
| Absent | 3 (18.8) | 13 (81.3) | 1.00 |
| Present | 16 (22.9) | 54 (77.1) | |
| Regression | |||
| Absent | 18 (25.7) | 52 (74.3) | 0.11 |
| Present | 1 (6.3) | 15 (93.8) | |
| rs2853669 | |||
| Absent | 10 (20.4) | 39 (79.6) | 0.50 |
| Present | 8 (22.9) | 27 (77.1) | |
| Indeterminant | 1 (50) | 1 (50) | |
Definitions: AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer
*
TERT-positivity is defined as harboring a hotspot TERT promoter mutation: -124C>T, -124_125CC>TT, -138_139CC>TT or -146C>T.
†
P-values were derived from the Fisher’s exact test. Bold type indicates P-values < .05 (two-sided).
‡
Other/unclassified types of melanoma include nevoid (n=2), desmoplastic (n=1), spindle cell (n=1), spitzoid (n=1) and unclassified (n=4).