SKIN: Caring for Melanoma Survivors with Self-Detected Concerning Moles During COVID-19 Restricted Physician Access: a Cohort Study
Background: Physician appointments for non-essential care ceased during COVID-19. Objective: To pilot test a telehealth solution for patients to rule out melanomas and need for surgical biopsies based on genomic analyses of pigmented lesion samples obtained via adhesive patches. Methods: Surveys assessed SSE anxiety. Under remote clinician guidance, patients or partners obtained samples using adhesive patches (DermTech, La Jolla, CA). Results: SSE anxiety increased. Guided self-sampling led to molecular risk factor analyses in 7/7 (100%) of cases compared to 9/10 (90%) randomly selected physician-sampled control cases. Conclusions: Adhesive patch self-sampling under remote physician guidance is a viable specimen collection option.
SKIN: Risk Stratification of Severely Dysplastic Nevi by Non-Invasively Obtained Gene Expression and Mutation Analyses
Importance: Strategies to non-invasively detect cutaneous melanoma generally focus on differentiating melanoma from non-melanoma lesions. However, given the variabilities in practice and lack of guidelines, it is important for clinicians to understand how such strategies and technologies perform on borderline lesions of uncertain clinical behavior.
JDD: Real-world utility of a non-invasive gene expression test to rule out primary cutaneous melanoma: a large US registry study
Efforts to unambiguously assess and adjudicate primary melanocytic skin lesions clinically suspicious of melanoma to rule out melanoma via the existing standard of care of visual assessment and histopathology remains a challenge even for pigmented lesion experts because of inherent limitations of image recognition.
JAAD: Use of the Pigmented Lesion Assay to rapidly screen a patient with numerous clinically atypical pigmented lesions
The goal of early melanoma detection is to biopsy melanomas before they become invasive and avoid unnecessary biopsies of benign pigmented lesions.1 Noninvasive gene expression profile testing has the potential to serve both purposes by improving clinical diagnostic accuracy and informing biopsy decision making. The Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA) (DermTech, La Jolla, CA) involves tape-stripping lesions to obtain stratum corneum from which RNA is isolated and expression levels of the noncoding long RNA Linc00518 (Linc) and PRAME genes are assessed.
Findings from a large US registry study to assess the real-world utility of a non-invasive gene expression test designed to rule out primary cutaneous melanoma
The Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA) analyzes gene expression to objectively rule out melanoma. The test uses a non-invasive adhesive patch–based sample collection platform that enables guidance on biopsy decisions and elevates pigmented lesion management beyond what can be visually ascertained. The test’s negative predictive value of >99%, and rapid, painless application make it an attractive pre-biopsy solution. It reduces biopsies by 90% while improving care and reducing cost.
Dermatology Online Journal: Impact on clinical practice of a non-invasive gene expression melanoma rule-out test: 12-month follow-up of negative test results and utility data from a large US registry study
The Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA, sensitivity 91-95%, specificity 69-91%, negative predictive value >99%) is a commercially available, non-invasive gene expression test that helps dermatologists guide pigmented lesion management decisions and rule out melanoma. Earlier studies have demonstrated high clinical utility and no missed melanomas in a 3-6-month follow-up period. We undertook the current investigations to provide 12-month follow-up data on PLA(-) tests, and to further confirm utility…
JAMA Letter 2019
We appreciate the comments by Beatson and Weinstock on our analysis of the pigmented lesion assay (PLA). We agree that it is important to develop tools that have the potential to help decrease biopsies of benign pigmented skin lesions such as the PLA, a gene expression melanoma rule-out test based on obtaining skin samples noninvasively via adhesive patches…
Noninvasive Analysis of High-Risk Driver Mutations and Gene Expression Profiles in Primary Cutaneous Melanoma
Tools that help reduce the number of surgical biopsies performed on benign lesions have the potential to improve patient care. The pigmented lesion assay (PLA) is a noninvasive tool validated against histopathology that helps rule out melanoma and the need for surgical biopsies of atypical pigmented skin lesions. Genetic information is collected using adhesive patches and the expression of two genes, LINC and PRAME, is measured. By using genetic material collected noninvasively and to further validate the PLA, somatic hotspot mutations in genes known to be drivers of early melanoma development (BRAF other than V600E, NRAS, and the TERT promoter) can also be identified…
Skin Therapy Letter: Non-Invasive Gene Expression Testing to Rule Out Melanoma
The Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA) is a gene expression test that helps rule out melanoma and has the potential to reduce the need for surgical biopsies of atypical pigmented skin lesions. Utilizing a new technological platform for the non-invasive profiling of skin, the assay analyzes samples collected from adhesive patches for expression of two key genes (PRAME and LINC00518) known to be overexpressed in melanoma.
Melanoma Research: Real-world performance and utility of a noninvasive gene expression assay to evaluate melanoma risk in pigmented lesions
About 3 million surgical pigmented skin lesion biopsies are performed each year in the USA alone to diagnose fewer than 200 000 new cases of invasive melanoma and melanoma in situ using the current standard of care that includes visual assessment and histopathology. A recently described noninvasive adhesive patch-based gene expression rule-out test [pigmented lesion assay (PLA)] may be helpful in identifying high-risk pigmented skin lesions to aid with surgical biopsy decisions.