Increased NY-ESO-1 expression and reduced infiltrating CD3+ T cells in cutaneous melanoma

Ny-eso-1 is a cancer-testis antigen aberrantly expressed in melanomas,which may serve as a robust and specific target in immunotherapy. ny-eso-1 antigen expression,tumor features,and the immune profile of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes were assessed in primary cutaneous melanoma. ny-eso-1 protein was detected in 20% of invasive melanomas (16/79),rarely in in situ melanoma (1/10) and not in benign nevi (0/20). marked intratumoral heterogeneity of ny-eso-1 protein expression was observed. ny-eso-1 expression was associated with increased primary tumor thickness (p = 0.007) and inversely correlated with superficial spreading melanoma (p < 0.02). ny-eso-1 expression was also associated with reduced numbers and density of cd3+tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (p = 0.017). when ny-eso-1 protein was expressed,cd3+ t cells were less diffusely infiltrating the tumor and were more often arranged in small clusters (p = 0.010) or as isolated cells (p = 0.002) than in large clusters of more than five lymphocytes. no correlation of ny-eso-1 expression with gender,age,tumor site,ulceration,lymph node sentinel status,or survival was observed. ny-eso-1 expression in melanoma was associated with tumor progression,including increased tumor thickness,and with reduced tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. © 2015 mara giavina-bianchi et al.