Sex-associated miR-4286 is related to Breslow thickness and TILs in stage II/III primary cutaneous melanoma
- 1Department of Internal Medicine and UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of New Mexico
Abstract
Sex differences in melanoma incidence and mortality are well-established. Previous work has shown that the female survival advantage can be largely explained by differences in clinico-pathologic features, such as age, Breslow thickness, ulceration, mitoses, and primary site. Here we test the hypothesis that sex-differentiated expression of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) may be associated with sex differences in melanoma pathology. In a sample of 715 AJCC stage II/III primary melanomas from the InterMEL project, we find two miRNAs (miR-361 and miR-4286) that are differentially expressed in males and females, and further find one of these (miR-4286) to be associated with both greater Breslow thickness and the presence of brisk tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). These results suggest that miR-4286 may be a candidate marker for sex differences in melanoma pathology. Functional experiments may confirm whether this relationship is causal or purely associative.
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BibTeX
@misc{reynolds2026sexassociated,
title = {{Sex-associated miR-4286 is related to Breslow thickness and TILs in stage II/III primary cutaneous melanoma}},
author = {A. Z. Reynolds and D. L. Corcoran and L. Luo and K. J. Busam and C. Lezcano and C. Amos and D. Argibay and R. Shen and C. B. Begg and N. E. Thomas and I. Orlow and E. Hernando and M. Berwick},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.04.26362289},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.26362289v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sex-associated miR-4286 is related to Breslow thickness and TILs in stage II/III primary cutaneous melanoma
AU - A. Z. Reynolds
AU - D. L. Corcoran
AU - L. Luo
AU - K. J. Busam
AU - C. Lezcano
AU - C. Amos
AU - D. Argibay
AU - R. Shen
AU - C. B. Begg
AU - N. E. Thomas
AU - I. Orlow
AU - E. Hernando
AU - M. Berwick
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/04
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.04.26362289
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.26362289v1
AB - Sex differences in melanoma incidence and mortality are well-established. Previous work has shown that the female survival advantage can be largely explained by differences in clinico-pathologic features, such as age, Breslow thickness, ulceration, mitoses, and primary site. Here we test the hypothesis that sex-differentiated expression of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) may be associated with sex differences in melanoma pathology. In a sample of 715 AJCC stage II/III primary melanomas from the InterMEL project, we find two miRNAs (miR-361 and miR-4286) that are differentially expressed in males and females, and further find one of these (miR-4286) to be associated with both greater Breslow thickness and the presence of brisk tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). These results suggest that miR-4286 may be a candidate marker for sex differences in melanoma pathology. Functional experiments may confirm whether this relationship is causal or purely associative.
ER -