Abstract

Background: YAP/TAZ have been reported to be highly expressed in malignant tumors. This research was aimed to study the expression of TAZ/YAP protein in malignant melanoma and to investigate its relationship to the clinicopathology and prognosis of patients with malignant melanoma. Methods: A total of 156 pairs of malignant melanoma tumor tissues and melanocytic nevi tissues were collected. The expression of TAZ and YAP proteins were detected by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Relationship between TAZ/YAP and clinical data of malignant melanoma were analyzed. Results: The number of positive cells of TAZ and YAP in malignant melanoma tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in melanocytic nevi tissues, and the expression of both proteins was positively correlated with malignant melanoma (r = 0.687, P <0.01); TAZ and YAP protein expression in malignant melanoma tissue was significantly correlated with tumor thickness, invasive depth grade, lymph node metastasis and TNM stages (P <0.05), and increased with TNM staging. The expression of TAZ and YAP in patients with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than that in non-metastatic patients (P <0.05). High expression of TAZ/YAP significantly reduced the postoperative survival rate in patients with malignant melanoma. Conclusion: TAZ/YAP is highly expressed in malignant melanoma tumor tissues. The high expression of TAZ/YAP promotes the progression of malignant melanoma and affects the postoperative survival of patients.