Reaction of the leukocytes of melanoma patients and control donors, including pregnant women, with melanoma- and fetus-derived materials

Abstract

Using a one-stage capillary leukocyte migration inhibition assay, we examined peripheral blood leukocytes from 97 patients with malignant melanoma, 194 pregnant women, and 123 non-pregnant donors for their reactivity with materials from fetal and melanomatous tissues. As in previous studies, we found melanoma extracts selectively to inhibit melanoma patients' leukocytes. First-trimester fetal extracts also selectively inhibited melanoma patients' leukocytes, suggesting their cross-reactivity with melanoma-derived antigens. We could not localize the source of the inhibitory materials within the fetuses. We found no evidence that pregnant women were selectively immunized to fetal or melanoma extracts, regardless of their parity or the stage of their pregnancy.

Expression by human fetal organs of organ-specific cancer neoantigens as measured by leukocyte adherence inhibition

“…A review of previous results from in vitro studies of cellular and humoral immunity suggests that human cancers and fetal tissues share immunogenic antigens [10,19,21,28,39,43,70]. However, the results provide a wide discrepancy in the time of fetal expression of the antigens, the specificity of the antigens, and the effect of fetal antigens on sensitization of pregnant women.…”

Melanoma During Pregnancy

“…Melanomas are relatively often diagnosed during pregnancies; it has led to the speculation that certain hormone effects and immunosuppression in pregnancy may induce malignant transformation (Sadoff et al, 1973;Cochran et al, 1982). However, none of the studies showed that the risk for melanoma occurring is higher during pregnancy.…”