Combining information on degradomics and gene expression data in prospecting metastatic melanoma proteolytic signatures

Melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer with a high metastatic potential, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Proteases play a key role in shaping the tumor microenvironment and enabling transformed cells to actively colonize distant sites (metastasis). We performed proteomic mapping of protease cleavage sites in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples and profiled potentially active proteases in samples from melanoma patients with distinct prognostic outcomes. Although protein abundance alone did not indicate potential markers of disease progression, the observed cleaved fragments may serve for monitoring potentially active proteases in patient samples in targeted proteomics analysis. The findings provide valuable insights into melanoma biology and potential therapeutic prospects.