TERT promoter mutations and melanoma survival: a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis.

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between somatic mutations of the TERT gene promoter and melanoma survival. Data from nineteen independent studies (>2,500 melanoma overall) were pooled using random effects meta-analysis models. TERT-mutated melanoma patients had a significantly worse overall survival (OS) (summary hazard ratio 1.43, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.05-1.95) compared to wild-type ones. The association became stronger when combining risk estimates for overall and melanoma-specific survival (MSS) (1.52, 95% CI 1.14-2.02), and when restricting the analysis to studies mostly based on invasive non-acral cutaneous melanomas (1.77, 95% CI 1.00-3.15). Limited, yet suggestive evidence of a detrimental effect of TERT promoter mutations on melanoma prognosis emerged also for other survival measures (e.g. disease-free and distant metastasis-free survival). We found suggestive evidence of a detrimental effect of TERT mutations on melanoma patients' survival.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Critical reviews in oncology/hematology

• Publication date

  2021-03-03

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2021.103288PMID 33675908
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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