Prognostic value of gene expression profiling in melanoma: a systematic literature review

Introduction. Skin melanoma, despite having similar clinical and histological characteristics, can have different prognoses. Gene expression profiling potentially allows for more accurate risk stratification of patients.Aim. To study prognostic test systems for assessing outcomes in patients with skin melanoma based on the analysis of primary tumors.Materials and methods. A systematic literature review (scoping review) was conducted in accordance with PRISMA-ScR principles. The search was performed in PubMed (2008–2024). Two independent reviewers conducted the study selection and data analysis to assess concordance. The data were presented descriptively.Results. Out of 149 identified publications, 31 studies were included in the review. The effectiveness of four test systems was evaluated, with the most frequently used being DecisionDx-Melanoma (19/31, 61.3%). This test stratifies patients by molecular classes: patients at high risk were found to have a 5.33 (±1.25) times higher likelihood of disease progression and poorer survival rates compared to lower-risk patients. No studies included data on the Russian population.Conclusions. Gene expression profiling demonstrates high accuracy in predicting outcomes for patients with skin melanoma.