Feb 16, 2006 - Abnormally low plasma concentrations of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) are a strong predictor of metastasis in patients with melanoma, according to a group of Italian researchers.
Breslow thickness at the time of primary diagnosis is considered the best predictor of melanoma progression. However, "it still fails to accurately predict outcome in many patients, leaving a considerable part of the prognostic variations unexplained," the authors write the February 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Previous studies have reported abnormally low plasma levels of CoQ10 in patients with cancer of the breast, lung, or pancreas, and in individuals with melanoma cells.
In this prospective study, the researchers, lead by Dr. Luigi Rusciani, from the University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, investigated the prognostic usefulness of baseline CoQ10 plasma levels in patients with melanoma.
One hundred seventeen patients with primary cutaneous melanoma and 125 matched controls where followed over about 7.5 years. The team measured plasma CoQ10 levels every 3 to 6 months, setting the threshold at 0.6 mg/L to divide plasma CoQ10 levels into high and low groups.
They found that 32.5% of the primary melanoma patients developed metastasis during the follow-up period. CoQ10 levels were significantly higher in the control group than in the melanoma group (1.27 versus 0.497 mg/L).
The subgroup of melanoma patients who developed metastasis had significantly lower baseline values of CoQ10 levels (0.342 mg/L) compared with patients who did not develop metastasis (0.572 mg/L).
Logistic regression analysis confirmed that plasma CoQ10 levels were a significant predictor of metastasis (p = .0013). Patients with low CoQ10 levels had an approximate eight-fold risk of metastatic disease compared with patients with high levels.
Finally, the metastasis-free interval was almost double in patients with higher CoQ10 levels: 81.53 months from diagnosis compared with 46.85 months for patients with low CoQ10 levels.
J Am Acad Dermatol 2006;54:234-241.
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