The role of insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3,cyclooxygenase-2, and galectin-3 in differentiating malignant melanoma from benign melanocytic lesion: immunohistochemical study

Background: melanoma is a malignancy arising from melanocytes. wide ranges of melanomaassociated antigens have been identified for which immunohistochemical reagents have been developed. insulin-like growth factor-ii mrna-binding protein 3 (imp-3), cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2), and galectin-3 showed variable expressions in different lesions and could give better diagnosis of malignant tumors when combined together. objective: to evaluate the role of immunohistochemistry using imp-3, cox-2, and galectin-3 in differentiating malignant melanoma from benign melanocytic lesions. materials and methods: the study was carried out on 28 selected archival cases (16 benign melanocytic lesions and 12 malignant melanomas). paraffin sections of 4–5 μm thickness were stained with h&e to confirm their histological diagnosis and with imp-3, cox-2, and galectin 3 for immunohistochemical evaluation. results: comparison between immunohistochemical expressions of imp-3, cox-2, and galectin-3 in different lesions revealed significant difference between benign melanocytic lesions and malignant melanoma. however, immunohistochemical expression of both imp-3 and galectin-3 showed high statistical difference between malignant melanoma and benign melanocytic lesions. conclusion: these findings indicate that the combined use of both imp-3 and galectin-3 has a diagnostic value in segregating nevi from malignant melanoma.