Local immune response in patients with skin melanoma: the relationship with the efficiency of interferontherapy

Summary. Using of an immunohistochemical method the phenotypic characteristics of lymphocytes infiltrating primary skin melanoma in 12 patients with stage IB–IIC disease are studied. It has been shown that the cells express the inflammatory infiltrate CD3-, CD8-, CD45RA-, CD45RO- and CD20-antigenes. In all cases the cells of lymphoid infiltrate in the stroma and parenchyma were presented by T-lymphocytes (CD3) and only in 3 of 12 cases, in addition CD3-cells, В-lymphocytes (CD20) were identified. All T-lymphocytes expressed exclusively CD8 coreceptor, al­lowing to assing them to a subpopulation of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Most cytotoxic T-lymphocytes localized in the tumor stroma and were presented as naïve T-cells (CD45RA), and immunologic memory cells (CD45RO). In a retrospective analysis carried out ­depending on the efficiency of adjuvant interferontherapy (IFN-therapy), it is established that patients with a favorable course of the dise­ases, in contrast to patients with recurrent melanoma, developed in 4 of 12 patients in the first year after excision of the primary tumor, recorded a more pronounced infiltration of tumor stroma CD45RO-cells, and the parenchyma — CD8-lymphocytes. These results open up new opportunities for the application of immunological parameters in predicting the response to IFN-therapy in patients with primary localized skin melanoma.