IgG4 subclass in malignant melanoma.

Three hundred and ninety-seven sera from 185 melanoma patients were studied. These sera were classified into three groups according to stage of disease. An alteration in the level of the IgG4 subclass was found. It was related to the dissemination of disease. The percentage of abnormalities (either increased or decreased levels of IgG4) was more frequent in patients with stage II and III diseases (55 and 53%, respectively) than in patients with stage I(19%). The higher frequencies of high titers of IgG4 were essentially detected in advanced disease. The biologic significance of the increase of IgG4 in melanoma remains obscure. The increase may be related to the development of facilitating antibodies of the IgG4 subclass.

[IgG levels in the sera of melanoma patients (author's transl)]. / Etude des IgG dans les sérums de sujets porteurs de mélanomes.

397 sera from 185 melanoma patients have been tested. We classified our subjects into three groups, according to the stage of disease. An alteration of the level of IgG4 subclass was found and related to the extension of the disease. The percentage of abnormalities was more frequent in stage II and III (55 p. 100 and 53 p. 100) than in stage I (19 p. 100). High titers of IgG 4 subclass were essentially detected in advanced disease. The biological significance is discussed.

[IgG levels in the sera of melanoma patients (author's transl)]. / Etude des IgG dans les sérums des sujets porteurs de mélanomes.

397 sera from 185 melanoma patients have been tested. We classified our subjects into three groups, according to the stage of disease. An alteration of the level of IgG 4 sub-class was found and related to the extension of the disease. The percentage of abnormalities was more frequent in stage II and III (55 p. 100 and 53 p. 100) than in stage I (19 p. 100). High titers of IgG 4 subclass were essentially detected in advanced disease. The biological significance is discussed.

Characterization of the mononuclear cell infiltrate in human malignant melanoma.

In the skin infiltrate of superficial spreading melanoma, non phagocytosing mononuclear cells (NPMC) represent a major cell component. The number of NPMCs decreases as a function of tumour progression. In addition, when an NPMC is in contact with a malignant melanocyte, the latter cell exhibits ultrastructural degenerative changes. In the blood of healthy donors and of melanoma patients, atypical mononuclear cells (AMC) can be identified. AMCs have been shown to participate in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) reactions against melanoma cells in vitro. In this paper, it is reported that NPMCs and AMCs have in common their size, and some ultrastructural features such as indented nuclei, dispersed organelles, rough endoplasmic reticulum profiles and surface microvilli. The two cell types are negative for non-specific esterase. They also fail to react for peroxidase at either the light or the electron microscopic level. They do not adhere to glass. AMCs do not form spontaneous E rosettes, they have no surface IgG and they have no receptors for complement. However, they do form rosettes with EAIgG. On frozen sections firm binding of EAIgG has been seen on the skin infiltrate in three cases out of 10. It is concluded that NPMCs might react with tumour cells in vivo, in the same manner as do AMCs in vitro.

Cytotoxicity of lymphocytes from healthy subjects and from melanoma patients against cultured melanoma cells.

The in vitro cytotoxicity of lymphocytes from forty-seven melanoma patients and thirteen healthy subjects for cultured melanoma cells was studied using a 51Cr release assay. Two different melanoma cell lines were used as target cells: one cultured in suspension (SK Mel1) and one tissue culture line growing as a monolayer (NK I1). The lymphocytes from most healthy subjects were found to be cytotoxic for these cultured cells, with individual variations. These repeatable cytotoxic reactions could not be explained on the grounds of previous isoimmunization. The lymphocytes from melanoma patients were also cytotoxic for the melanoma cell lines, but the highest degree of cytotoxicity was found in patients with primitive and localized tumours, and not in patients with metastases.

[IgG subclasses in malignant melanoma]. / Etude des allotypes Gm et des sous-classes d'IgG chez des sujets porteurs de mélanomes malins

The 397 sera from 185 melanoma patients have been studied and classified in three groups according to the stage of disease. Our findings revealed an alteration of the level of IgG4 subclass which is related to the dissemination of disease. The percentage of abnormalities (either increased or decreased levels of IgG4) was more frequent in stage II and III (55% and 53% respectively) than in stage I (19%), The higher frequencies of high titers of IgG4 were essentially detected in advanced disease. The biological significance of the increase of IgG4 in melanoma remains obscure. It may be related to the development of facilitating antibodies of IgG4 subclass.

Cell-mediate cytotoxicity in vitro of human lymphocytes against a tissue culture melanoma cell line (igr3).

Purified peripheral blood lymphocytes from 13 healthy donors, 6 melanoma patients and 1 halo nevus patient were tested for cytotoxic activity against an allogeneic melanoma cell line (IGR3) in, at least, one of the following assays: cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and microcytotoxicity assays (ma). The lymphocytes were isolated by Ficoll-Triosil gradient centrifugation (fraction F) followed by removal of iron-phagocytosing and adherent cells (fraction FFF) and by subsequent passage through anti-IgG columns (fraction FFF-C). Leukocytes of each fraction were identified by different methods including morphology, rosette-formation, phagocytic activity, and membrane fluorescence. CMC activity paralled ADCC activity at a log lower level of sensitivity. In both assays lymphocytes of fractions F and FFF had the highest activity, whereas in fraction FFF-C cytotoxicity was strongly reduced. In all three lymphocyte fractions CMC and ADCC activity could be blocked by preincubation of the effector cells in aggregated IgG. Furthermore, depletion of E rosette-forming lymphocytes slightly increased ADCC and CMC activity, whereas depletion of EA and EAC rosette-forming lymphocytes strongly decreased it. Our results therefore indicate that in both CMC and ADCC assays, non-adherent, non-phagocytic Fc receptor-bearing lymphocytes ("K" cells) were the active cytotoxic cells. In MA, on the other hand, mononuclear phagocytes seemed to be the most active cell population. So far no significant difference was observed in CMC, ADCC, and MA between control persons and melanoma patients