title: Responsiveness to interferon treatment of human melanoma cells correlates to immunophenotype.
abstract: Clinical trials with interferon (INF) treatment in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma have met with limited success, suggesting that only a small subgroup of patients with melanoma is sensitive to INF therapy. For therapeutic strategies, it would be of great value to discriminate and define markers related to the anti-proliferative effects of INF. In the present study, we report on the in vitro growth inhibitory effects of INF in six human melanoma cell lines; this is associated with a modulation of cell surface markers. The responsiveness of human melanoma cell lines in vitro to INF-alpha shows a good correlation with a specific immunophenotype (TA99-/EGF-R+ or HLA-DR+). No marker correlated with sensitivity or resistance to INF-beta or INF-gamma. This is the first report identifying cell surface markers of human melanoma cells which might have a predictive value for the clinical response to INF-alpha.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Rudolf Virchow, Department of Dermatology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Worm
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schadendorf
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Czarnetzki
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000494:pharmacology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000494:pharmacology; D007372:Interferons / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016899:Interferon-beta; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D007372:Interferons