Further study of specific immunoreactivity in patients with malignant melanoma of uveal tissue by LAI assay.
Cell immunity was followed in patients with malignant melanoma of the uveal tissue with the aid of LAI (leukocyte adherence inhibition assay). The LAI test proved positive in 59 out of 65 patients with histological evidence of malignancy of the melanoma (90.7%). The test was repeated three to six months following excision of the tumor from the eye in 48 patients and in 19 of them (39.6%) it was found to be negative. All these patients have survived and after a mean lapse of 2.5 years following the surgical intervention no metastases have been observed. As against this, LAI positivity persisted in the remaining 29 patients (60.4%), with metastases present in the liver or the eyeball in 8 of them (27.6%) during the follow-up period (1-4 yrs). Out of 39 patients with the diagnosis of suspected malignant melanoma of the uveal tissue, the LAI test proved positive in 17 (43.6%), but as subsequently ascertained, 6 of these (15.4%) had benign choroid nevi. In 6 further patients with suspected malignant melanoma of the uvea in whom the LAI test had been negative, this disease was subsequently ruled out. From a control group of 101 patients with various non-tumorous diseases of the eyes, a false positivity of the LAI test was noted in only two (1.98%).
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007957:Leukocyte Adherence Inhibition Test; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D014604:Uveal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000601:surgery