Dynamics of changes in tumor-associated macrophages in patients with primary skin melanoma depending on the method of surgical treatment

Abstract

Summary: Skin melanoma is one of the deadliest among human skin tumors, and surgery remains the first and main method in its combined treatment. Despite the seemingly radical nature of surgical interventions in patients with primary skin melanoma, the frequency of locoregional recurrence and metastasis remains high. The question of the impact of surgical treatment on the evolution of the melanoma microenvironment remains unclear.Aim: to investigate the dynamics of polarization in tumor-associated macrophages in patients with primary skin melanoma of stage 0-IIa and in subsequent metastatic lesions to assess the impact of postoperative ischemia on survival of patients.Results: it was found that in patients with primary skin melanoma of stage 0-IIa plastic replacement of a tissue defect, compared with conventional suturing, can lead to a decrease in the density in the intrastromal distribution of pro-inflammatory CD68 + macrophages in the surgical focus, as well as less frequent polarization of TAM cells in the M2 direction and migration to the intrastromal component of the tumor, their more frequent mixed content, which, as a result, affects the survival of this category of patients for the better.Conclusions: plastic closing a surgical defect in patients with primary skin melanoma of stage 0-IIa may affect the duration of postoperative ischemia and the polarization of TAM cells. Plastic replacement of a tissue defect after tumor removal improves five-year survival rates (PFS by 22,6 % (p = 0.003) and OS by 13,1% (p = 0.029).