PARP1 as a biomarker towards in vivo multimodal melanoma diagnosis

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer with the highest associated mortality, early diagnosis ensures high survival rates. Currently, in vivo morphological imaging such as reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is associated with high sensitivity but moderate specificity. Addition of molecular imaging using PARPi-FL (PARP1-targeted fluorophore) can improve distinction between malignant/potentially malignant lesions. Towards multimodal imaging in vivo, we first investigated differential PARP1 expression in the spectrum of melanocytic lesions. Higher PARP area positivity and intensity were found in melanoma as compared to benign nevi. Thus, PARPi-FL in association with RCM can potentially improve melanoma diagnosis non-invasively in patients.