Desmoplastic
melanoma is a rare variant of
malignant melanoma composed of spindle cells in a collagenous matrix. The antibody against NGFR (low affinity
nerve growth factor receptor, also known as p75) stains cells of desmoplastic
melanoma with high sensitivity; however, the specificity of this marker is not well established. Although there are established histologic criteria for recognition of desmoplastic
melanoma, the evaluation of residual disease in cutaneous reexcision
scars can be challenging. If residual spindle cells in
scar are sufficiently atypical and NGFR positive, their presence could be interpreted as residual desmoplastic
melanoma. In this study, we reevaluated the use of antibody against NGFR to detect residual disease in reexcision specimens of melanocytic
neoplasms as the previously published works are contradictory. Our data indicate that anti-NGFR antibody stains many cells in the
scar, some of which seem to be myofibroblasts, nerve twigs, and Schwann cells. Our findings further suggest that NGFR is not a suitable marker to evaluate reexcision
scars for desmoplastic
melanoma, especially as a sole marker, as its specificity is low.