부산대학교 도서관

Evidence for heterogeneity of several biological features of human malignant melanoma (Me) like morphology, cytogenetics, oncogenes activation, antigenic expression, metastatizing capacity and procoagulant activity are briefly reviewed in an attempt to distinguish findings related to primary vs. metastatic lesions. In our own studies monoclonal antibodies were used to study expression of MHC class I, class II products and of Me-associated antigens (MAA) on primary and metastatic Me cells. High expression of class I antigens was found in a high percentage of both primary and metastatic tumors, whereas DR and MAA showed a significant variation (from 3 to 90% of cells) in expression both in primary and in metastatic Me. When autologous cell-mediated immune responses were evaluated, it was found that Me cells from primary tumors but not those from lymph node metastases were able to stimulate autologous lymphocytes to proliferate and become cytotoxic for autologous Me.