Serum adhesion molecules and interleukin-2 receptor as markers of tumour load and prognosis in advanced cutaneous melanoma

Cell adhesion molecules are cell surface glycoproteins that may act as medi ators in the metastatic process. Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is an immunological marker that may also serve as an indicator of tumour prog ression. Normal and neoplastic cells are capable of releasing these molecul es into circulation. We evaluated the association between pretreatment seru m levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), vascular c ell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1) and sIL-2R and metastases and survival in 50 patients with advanced melanoma. The patients with liver and/or bone me tastases had significantly higher sICAM-1 levels than those with soft tissu e and/or lung involvement (P=0.002). In addition, there was a trend towards higher sIL-2R levels in patients with more metastatic sites (P=0.07). In u nivariate analysis, the number of metastatic sites (P=0.0001, odds ratio (O R) 3.0, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.7-5.3), the metastatic site (P=0.01 , OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2-4.4) and the levels of sICAM-1 (P=0.011, OR 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2-5.0), sVCAM-1 (P=0.036, OR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.0-4.3) and sIL-2R (P=0.00 16, OR 3.0, 95% CI: 1.5-6.0) were found to be statistically significant pro gnostic factors for survival. In multivariate analysis, the number of metas tatic sites was the dominant prognostic indicator. After it was excluded fr om the analysis, the sIL-2R level and the metastatic site were found to be significant. It can be concluded, that high sICAM-1 levels suggest liver me tastases and sIL-2R seems to serve as a marker of tumour load in metastatic melanoma. Furthermore, the sIL-2R level appears to add to clinical data pr edicting the patient's outcome. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.