In Stage IV melanoma patients, a high percentage of Tregs appears to be associated with shorter survival. Jim Breitfeller

In Stage IV melanoma patients, a high percentage of Tregs appears to be associated with shorter survival.

Received 12 February 2008 published online 03 June 2008.

Background

Melanoma often elicits a profound immune response, and this response has been exploited by various immune therapies. These immunotherapies ultimately fail, however, and advanced melanoma is uniformly fatal, suggesting the development of an immune escape mechanism. In this study, markers of immune escape including regulatory T cells (Tregs), dendritic cells (DCs), and TGF-β were evaluated in 14 Stage IV melanoma patients and correlated with survival.

Source:http://www.journalofsurgicalresearch.com/article/S0022-4804(08)00344-2/abstract

In Stage IV melanoma patients, a high percentage of Tregs appears to be associated with shorter survival


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Results

Stage IV melanoma patients had a doubling of regulatory T cells compared to both normal subjects and stage I melanoma patients. There was a significantly higher number of DCs in all melanoma patients compared to normal subjects. Stage I melanoma patients had a significantly higher number of pDCs than normal subjects, and all melanoma patients had a higher concentration of mDCs than controls. Serum IL-4 and IL-10 were not detectable but serum TGF-β levels were significantly higher in stage I and stage IV melanoma patients compared to normal controls.

Conclusion

Advanced melanoma is associated with increased numbers of circulating dendritic cells and regulatory T cells. These data suggest that melanoma induces immunosuppressive DCs and regulatory T cells in the systemic circulation.


Source:http://www.springerlink.com/content/k0gk8740u3n75744/


“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
~Charles Darwin~

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Jimmy B