Humoral cytotoxicity in melanoma patients and its correlation with the extent and course of the disease.
Complement-dependent cytotoxicity against melanoma cells was demonstrated with a microassay in sera from melanoma patients. The response was tumor-specific and histologic type-specific since 16 out of 52 (30%) melanoma patient sera taken before surgery reacted against melanoma cells, whereas 3 out of 43 (7%) control sera, collected from patients with unrelated tumors and from cancer-free individuals, were positive. The serum activity correlated with the clinical stage of the disease since it was detected in 15 out of 40 patients with stage I and II tumors and in 1 of the 12 patients in stage III. Twelve melanoma patients, clinically tumor-free for  to 4 years after surgery, showed no humoral cytotoxicity. A follow-up study of 13 melanoma patients revealed that the cytotoxicity appeared 7-10 days after radical removal of the tumor and that it disappeared if there was no recurrence. The histologic type-specificity was further tested by assaying sera from 16 melanoma and 10 breast-cancer patients simultaneously on both melanoma and breast-cancer cells; a positive reaction was observed in 6 cases of melanoma and in 5 of breast cancer on homologous cells only, in 1 case on the opposite type of cells, and in 3 cases on both types of tumor cells.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*
D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D003165:Complement System Proteins