title: Peripheral blood CD8highCD57+ lymphocyte levels may predict outcome in melanoma patients treated with adjuvant interferon-alpha.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oncology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. dainius@banga.lt
authors.forename: Dainius
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Characiejus
authors.forename: Vita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pasukoniene
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jonusauskaite
authors.forename: Nijolek
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Azlauskaite
authors.forename: Eduardas
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aleknavicius
authors.forename: Mykolas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mauricas
authors.forename: Willem Den
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Otter
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D018959:CD57 Antigens; D016898:Interferon-alpha