Immunophenotype analysis of dendritic cells and lymphocytes associated with cutaneous malignant melanomas.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in density and distribution of dendritic cells, both in epidermis and in peritumoral infiltrate, and lymphocyte subset variations in malignant melanomas (MM) of patients belonging to different risk groups. The collective immunoreactive expression of six markers (S100 protein, CD1-a, HLA-DR, CD4, CD8 and CD25) was analyzed in 13 cutaneous malignant melanomas. Changes were observed in density and distribution of Langerhans cells (LC) (S100+, CD1-a+) in the epidermis overlying the tumor, as well as in peritumoral and intratumoral locations, independently of the tumor-invasion level.

HLA molecule expression in cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas: an immunopathological study and clinical-immunohistopathological correlations.

A correlation between the lack of MHC class I gene expression on murine tumor cells and their ability to grow and metastasize has recently been established. This paper studies HLA-ABC and HLA-DR antigen expression in tumor cells and mononuclear infiltrate of 26 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). Our results showed a heterogeneous expression of HLA class I molecules in these tumors.

HLA expression in basal cell carcinomas.

Decreased expression of MHC class I molecules in tumor cells has been reported to be associated with enhanced malignancy both in human and murine tumors. This paper studies HLA-ABC and HLA-DR expression in 56 basal cell carcinomas. Our results show that these tumors have a heterogeneous expression of MHC class I molecules: 11% exhibit uniform staining of most tumor cells; 25% are only partially positive, and the remaining 64% are MHC class I negative.