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Abstract
This study aims to investigate the difference of gene expression and its prognostic significance in younger women with melanoma. Significantly upregulated genes in tumors compared to normal skin tissues were extracted. Among these genes, genes that significantly affected survival according to expression level were selected, and pathway annotation was performed. The patient proportion with high/low expression of the most significant pathways was analyzed in each age (< 50, 50-59, ≥ 60) and gender group. Survival was analyzed according to age, gender, and pathways. The most significant pathways that were upregulated in tumor tissues and also had impacts on survival were programmed cell death protein [PD]-1, interferon-γ, and interferon-α/β pathways. In women, the immune signaling rate in patients was higher than men and decreased with age (63.5%, 53.8%, and 47.6%). In men, the decreasing tendency was minimal (47.6%, 50.0%, and 41.6%). In patients aged < 60 years, women had a favorable survival rate than men (p = 0.055). Except for patients with high immune signaling, no survival difference was observed between genders (p = 0.6). In conclusion, younger female melanoma patients had high immune signaling than older women and men. This immune signaling improved survival of the younger female patients.

Affiliations

Yi-Jun Kim  1   2 , Kyubo Kim  3 , Kye Hwa Lee  4 , Jiyoung Kim  1 , Wonguen Jung  1
1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, 1071 Anyangcheon-ro, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, 07985, Republic of Korea.
2 Institute of Convergence Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, 07985, Republic of Korea.
3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, 1071 Anyangcheon-ro, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, 07985, Republic of Korea. kyubokim.ro@gmail.com.
4 Biomedical Informatics Department, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.