Correlation with lymphocyte infiltration, but lack of prognostic significance of MECA-79-positive high endothelial venules in primary malignant melanoma.

High endothelial venules (HEVs) are specialized vessels in lymphoid organs, supporting lymphocyte trafficking from the blood. As the presence of these vessels was described recently in tumors, it was proposed that they could facilitate the development of antitumor immune response, resulting in improved prognosis. The aim of our study was to analyze the correlation of the density of HEVs with that of the different immune cell types as well as with the clinicopathologic parameters and the disease outcomes in patients with cutaneous melanoma.

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells as potential biomarkers predicting response to treatment and survival in patients with metastatic melanoma receiving ipilimumab therapy.

Monoclonal antibodies targeting immune checkpoints are gaining ground in the treatment of melanoma and other cancers, and considerable effort is made to identify biomarkers predicting the efficacy of these therapies. Our retrospective study was performed on surgical tissue samples (52 lymph nodes and 34 cutaneous/subcutaneous metastases) from 30 patients with metastatic melanoma treated with ipilimumab. Using a panel of 11 antibodies against different immune cell types, intratumoral immune cell densities were determined and evaluated in relation to response to ipilimumab treatment and disease outcome.

Ectopic lymphoid structures in primary cutaneous melanoma.

Ectopic lymphoid structures have been described in several tumor types including metastatic lesions, but not primary tumors, of patients with melanoma. Here we present evidence of B-cell follicles in primary cutaneous melanomas, being present in 39 of 147 cases (27 %). B-cell clusters were associated with T lymphocytes, most of which belonging to CD45RO(+) memory T cells.

Immune cell profile of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with malignant melanoma - FOXP3+ cell density in cases with positive sentinel node status is associated with unfavorable clinical outcome.

Background: Besides being a preferential site of early metastasis, the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is also a privileged site of T-cell priming, and may thus be an appropriate target for investigating cell types involved in antitumor immune reactions.

Methods: In this retrospective study we determined the prevalence of OX40+ activated T lymphocytes, FOXP3+ (forkhead box P3) regulatory T cells, DC-LAMP+ (dendritic cell-lysosomal associated membrane protein) mature dendritic cells (DCs) and CD123+ plasmacytoid DCs by immunohistochemistry in 100 SLNs from 60 melanoma patients. Density values of each cell type in SLNs were compared to those in non-sentinel nodes obtained from block dissections (n = 37), and analyzed with regard to associations with clinicopathological parameters and disease outcome.