LAUSR

Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) is a rare skin tumour with an incidence of 0.88 per 100,000 people in New Zealand (NZ), one of the highest in the world1 and almost on par with close neighbours Australia2 . Current local diagnostic guidelines do not require analysis of the oncogenic Merkel Cell Polyoma Virus (MCPyV), therefore it has never been questioned whether the NZ-MCC MCPyV rate is similar to North American and European studies (40-89%) or indeed lower, as reported in Australian cohorts (18-24%) in which a UV-mediated etiology is dominant3-5 . To investigate the presence of the MCPyV in NZ-MCCs we established droplet digital PCR (ddPCR, Bio-Rad) assays to amplify viral gene LTA6 and gene expression of LTA, in parallel with a viral protein immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay using the commercial CM2B4 antibody4 . This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.