A consensus statement published [recently] in JAMA Dermatology by an international group of melanoma researchers evaluates the use of prognostic genetic expression profile (GEP) testing to guide clinical management of patients with melanoma. The group cautioned against routine use of currently available GEP tests for patients with cutaneous melanoma.

Prognostic gene expression profiling is a technique that measures the expression of a particular group of genes that may help predict patient outcomes. For melanoma, GEP tests are designed to predict whether a patient’s tumor is likely to be aggressive and metastasize.