Somatostatin receptor expression in Merkel cell carcinoma: correlation with clinical data

Figures & data

Table 1. The clinicopathological variables, their median, range, and distribution.

Patient characteristics	N/median
Gender	99
Male	27 (27%)
Female	72 (73%)
Age N	99
Median (range)	82 y (27–100)
Location	96 (NA 3)
Upper limb	19 (20%)
Lower limb	17 (18%)
Head and neck	50 (52%)
Anterior torso	2 (2%)
Posterior torso	8 (8%)
Stage	82 (NA 17)
Local	67 (82%)
Spread	15 (18%)
MCPyV LT expression	98 (NA 1)
Positive	64 (65%)
Negative	34 (35%)
MCC related death	99
Yes	31 (31%)
No	68 (69%)
Over-all survival	99
Death	78 (79%)
Alive	21 (21%)
Survival years N	94 (NA 5)
Median (range)	2.5 y (0.03–33)
Tumour size	68 (NA 31)
Median (range)	16.5 mm (80 mm)

The MCPyV status was Determined by the LT-oncoprotein expression [11].

Figure 1. Examples of the IHC scores of SSTR2. (A) Membranous score 4. (B) Cytoplasmic score 3. (C) Membranous score 2. (D) Cytoplasmic score 1.

The magnification images are taken with 40x times magnification. The main images were taken with 10x magnification. The scale bar represents 100 µm.

Figure 2. Explanation of the rules regarding over-all score.

Figure 3. Distribution of cytoplasmic, membranous, and over-all SSTR2 expression.

Figure 4. Kaplan–Meier curves of SSTR2 (five-year survival-%) (A) cytoplasmic disease specific survival (SSTR2 Pos. 59.2%, SSTR2 Neg. 66.4%, hazard ratio (HR)= 1.22, (95%-confidence interval (95%-CI) = 0.88–1.69). (B) Cytoplasmic overall survival (SSTR2 Pos. 34.2%, SSTR2 Neg. 37%, HR= 1.07 95%-CI= 0.86–1.32) (C) Membranous disease specific survival (SSTR2 Pos. 59.3%, SSTR2 Neg. 70.2%, HR= 1.62, 95%-CI= 0.73–3.64). (D) Membranous overall survival (SSTR2 Pos. 30.1%, SSTR2 Neg. 47.5%, HR= 1.58, 95%-CI 0.94–2.65). (E) Overall positivity disease specific survival (SSTR2 Pos. 62.5%, SSTR2 Neg. 63.9%, HR= 1.15, 95%-CI= 0.51–2.57). (F) Overall positivity in overall survival (SSTR2 Pos. 33.3%, SSTR2 Neg. 42.1%, HR= 1.43, 95%-CI= 0.82–2.50). In all the Kaplan–Meier plots, the blue graph represents negative SSTR2 expression survival rate and the green one represents positive expression survival rate.

Harms PW, Harms KL, Moore PS, et al. The biology and treatment of merkel cell carcinoma: current understanding and research priorities. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2018;15(12):763–776. doi: 10.1038/s41571-018-0103-2.

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Data availability statement

Due to the nature of the research, clinical data is not available. The original scores adjoined to the TMA is available at request.