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).

Patients And 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.