Humoral and cellular immunity in melanoma patients. I. An immuneadherence technique to detect antimelanoma antibodies. II. Cytotoxic effects of lymphocytes from healthy donors and melanoma patients on plated melanoma cells from cell lines and short term cultures

The presence of melanoma antibodies in the serum from melanoma patients were tested by means of an immunoadherence (I.A.) technique, according to Nishioka et al. 1969 (with some modifications). It is a sensitive technique for the detection of complement fixing antibodies. The I.A. test appeared to be approximately 10 times more sensitive than the membrane immunofluorescence test on melanoma cells. The specificity of the reaction is discussed. Ficoll hypaque lymphocytes (FHL) showed more frequent and stronger non specific cytotoxic effects than nylon column lymphocytes (PNL) on melanoma cells from cell lines and from short term cultures. On target cells from cell lines more and stronger non specific cytotoxic effects were measured than on target cells from short term cultures. The increase in the cytotoxic effects on melanoma cells from cell lines cannot be attributed to a higher susceptibility for unfavourable culture conditions. The cytotoxic effects of lymphocytes from healthy donor and from melanoma patients were recovered in both non T cell populations (non E and EAC rosette forming cells).