Peripheral blood CD8highCD57+ lymphocyte levels may predict outcome in melanoma patients treated with adjuvant interferon-alpha.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to evaluate the significance of CD8highCD57+ lymphocytes for the survival of high risk melanoma patients treated with adjuvant interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha).


METHODS
The prognostic significance of peripheral blood CD8highCD57+ lymphocyte levels for survival was analysed retrospectively in 16 IFN-alpha-treated melanoma patients with resected regional lymph node metastases. The survival of the patients was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The difference between survival curves was determined using the log-rank test.


RESULTS
The median survival time of patients with >23% CD8highCD57+ lymphocytes prior to treatment with IFN-alpha was 14.2 months, whereas the median survival time of patients with < 23% CD8highCD57+ lymphocytes was not reached at the time of analysis (median follow-up 24.6 months).


CONCLUSIONS
Larger prospective studies are justified to investigate the precise value of CD8highCD57+ lymphocytes in the selection of melanoma patients for adjuvant treatment with IFN-alpha.
Characiejus
Dainius
D
Institute of Oncology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. dainius@banga.lt
Pasukoniene
Vita
V
Jonusauskaite
Renata
R
Azlauskaite
Nijolek
N
Aleknavicius
Eduardas
E
Mauricas
Mykolas
M
Otter
Willem Den
WD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018959:CD57 Antigens / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D018959:CD57 Antigens; D016898:Interferon-alpha