Patent ID: 7910295

Claim:
A method for melanoma prognosis, comprising: (a) isolating nucleic acid from a sentinel lymph node (SLN) sample obtained from a first melanoma patient, wherein the SLN sample is histopathologically negative for melanoma cells; (b) amplifying mRNA transcripts encoded by MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes, the mRNA transcripts being obtained from nucleic acid from the SLN sample obtained from the first melanoma patient; (c) detecting levels of the mRNA transcripts encoded by the MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes; and (d) comparing levels of mRNA transcripts encoded by the MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes in nucleic acid from an SLN sample obtained from a second melanoma patient to levels of mRNA transcripts encoded by the MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes in the nucleic acid from the SLN sample obtained from the first melanoma patient to predict metastatic melanoma recurrence, metastatic melanoma-free survival, overall survival, or a combination thereof, for the first melanoma patient, higher levels of the mRNA transcripts encoded by the MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes in the nucleic acid from the SLN sample obtained from the first melanoma patient indicating that the first melanoma patient has an increased probability of metastatic melanoma recurrence as compared to the probability of metastatic melanoma recurrence of the second melanoma patient, a decreased probability of metastatic melanoma-free survival as compared to the probability of metastatic melanoma-free survival of the second melanoma patient, or a decreased probability of overall survival as compared to the probability of overall survival of the second melanoma patient, and lower levels of the mRNA transcripts encoded by the MAGE-A3, MART-1, GalNAcT and PAX3 marker genes in the nucleic acid from the SLN sample obtained from the first melanoma patient indicating that the first melanoma patient has a decreased probability of metastatic melanoma recurrence as compared to the probability of metastatic melanoma recurrence of the second melanoma patient, an increased probability of metastatic melanoma-free survival as compared to the probability of metastatic melanoma-free survival of the second melanoma patient, or an increased probability of overall survival as compared to the probability of overall survival of the second melanoma patient.