Abstract
Our previous studies demonstrated a lack of correlation between sequential lymphocyte reactivity and clinical tumor progression in patients with surgically incurable malignant melanoma. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether sequential lymphocyte reactivity correlated with recurrence of disease in melanoma patients with little if any tumor burden. Sixteen stage I and II patients with a high risk of recurrence following potentially curative surgery were given adjuvant chemotherapy with dimethyl triazeno imidazole carboxamide (DTIC). Nine patients subsequently relapsed and 7 remained disease free for at least 44 months. Each patient was tested for sequential lymphocyte reactivity using cryopreserved lymphocytes and a standard allogeneic melanoma cell line in a microcytotoxicity assay designed to minimize technical variation. No statistically significant difference was found in sequential reactivity between patients who relapsed and those who did not, although lymphocytes from disease free individuals did exhibit a slightly greater increase in reactivity when compared to lymphocytes from patients who recurred. We conclude that the microcytotoxicity assay performed in this way is of little prognostic value in patients with relatively low tumor burdens.
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