{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T20:07:10Z","timestamp":1767211630910,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,14]],"date-time":"2024-04-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1713052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Melanoma represents a public health issue. One of the biggest goals of current research is to develop new therapeutic options for patients affected by this aggressive tumor. We conducted a retrospective study including 105 patients diagnosed with cutaneous and ocular melanoma, with stages varying from pT1a to pT4b and pT4e, respectively, and we performed immunohistochemistry reactions with the new potential prognostic marker, VISTA (V-domain Ig suppressor of T cell activation). We quantified the expression by applying the H-score adapted for VISTA and divided the patients, based on the median value, into groups that presented high, low, and negative expression. Therefore, we obtained 65 cases with positive expression for cutaneous melanoma and 8 cases with positive expression for ocular melanoma. Forty-one cases presented high expression in cutaneous melanoma and three cases presented high expression in ocular melanoma. In cutaneous melanoma, analytic statistics showed that VISTA expression was associated with a high Breslow index, high mitotic count, high Ki67 expression, and advanced clinicopathological stage. The majority of ocular melanoma cases demonstrating a positive reaction were classified as stage pT3, whereas earlier stages showed a negative reaction. Our findings underscore a significant correlation between VISTA expression and key prognostic factors in melanoma. Looking ahead, the prospect of future randomized studies holds promise in corroborating the clinical relevance of our findings. By further elucidating the intricate relationship between VISTA expression and melanoma progression, new treatment strategies could be found, improving patient outcomes in this challenging neoplasm.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms25084335","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,15]],"date-time":"2024-04-15T10:24:26Z","timestamp":1713176666000},"page":"4335","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["H-VISTA Immunohistochemistry Score Is Associated with Advanced Stages in Cutaneous and Ocular Melanoma"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Andreea C\u0103t\u0103lina","family":"Tinca","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andreea Raluca","family":"Szoke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bianca Andreea","family":"Lazar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Em\u0151ke Andrea","family":"Sz\u00e1sz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-3734-5305","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandru Nicu\u0219or","family":"Tomu\u021b","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Adrian Hora\u021biu","family":"Sab\u0103u","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5985-2433","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iuliu-Gabriel","family":"Cocuz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Titiana-Cornelia","family":"Cotoi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Raluca","family":"Niculescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7024-2916","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diana Maria","family":"Chiorean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ioana Ancu\u021ba","family":"Ungureanu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sabin Gligore","family":"Turdean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ovidiu Simion","family":"Cotoi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania"},{"name":"Pathophysiology Department, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology \u201cGeorge Emil Palade\u201d of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bj.2019.09.002","article-title":"Immune checkpoint inhibitors win the 2018 Nobel Prize","volume":"42","author":"Huang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Biomed. 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