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American Journal of Pathology, Vol 134, 1063-1068, Copyright © 1989 by American Society for Investigative Pathology

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Tumor cell growth fractions in human malignant melanomas and the correlation to histopathologic tumor grading

P Kaudewitz, O Braun-Falco, M Ernst, M Landthaler, W Stolz and J Gerdes
Department of Dermatology, University of Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.

The growth fraction (GF) of 72 human malignant melanomas was determined by immunostaining with monoclonal antibody Ki-67. A positive correlation of GF and histopathologically-assessed prognostic variables, such as tumor thickness, mitotic rate, and prognostic index, was found. Individual Ki-67 values were considerably scattered in all histologically defined groups of malignancy. Thus, GF as determined by Ki-67 was used to calculate a modified prognostic index. In contrast to the histologically defined prognostic index, the Ki-67 based prognostic index allows further subdivision of thin malignant melanomas with no or few mitotic figures. This may be of help in identifying tumors with a high recurrence potential.