Melanoma-inhibitory activity protein concentrations in the blood of melanoma patients treated with immunotherapy

Melanoma inhibitory activity protein (MIA) has been detected in patients wi th advanced melanoma. The present study measured the variations in blood co ncentrations of MIA in 84 patients with AJCC stage II to IV melanoma by ELI SA. Patients treated with repeated injections of a polyvalent melanoma vacc ine (PMV), interferon-alpha-2b (IFN-alpha 2b), or interleukin-2 (IL-2) were followed during treatment duration. Before treatment, patients treated wit h PMV or IFN-alpha 2b had comparable low MIA concentrations, whereas most I L-2-treated patients had higher MIA levels. At the end of treatment, MIA co ncentrations were higher in patients with progressive disease (PD) than in patients with no clinical evidence of melanoma (NPD) for PMV, IFN-alpha 2b, or IL-2 therapy (3.7 +/- 0.2 vs. 11.5 +/- 5.4 ng/ml, 3.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 8.3 /- 1.7 ng/ml, and 2.3 +/- 0.7 vs. 20.2 +/- 7.4 ng/ml, respectively, P < 0.0 5). In constrast to stable MIA concentrations measured in NPD patients, sig nificant increase in MIA levels were observed in PD patients over time rega rdless of treatment (P < 0.05). In 20 of the 27 patients who had melanoma r ecurrence or progression, MIA concentrations were above 4.5 ng/ml. Finally, in these 20 patients, MIA concentrations above 4.5 ng/ml were observed pri or to clinical evidence of progression (P < 0.01).