DETECTION OF MELANOMA-CELLS IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD STEM-CELL HARVESTS OFPATIENTS WITH PROGRESSIVE METASTATIC MALIGNANT-MELANOMA

The detection of melanocyte-specific messenger RNA in patients with ma lignant melanoma suggests the potential contamination of peripheral bl ood stem cell (PBSC) harvests by neoplastic cells, In this study, the melanocyte-specific transcripts of tyrosinase and Melan-A/MART-1 were used to detect neoplastic cells in PBSC harvests of nine metastatic ma lignant melanoma patients. Only one patient's PBSC harvest tested posi tive for tyrosinase. AU harvests were negative for Melan-A/R/WRT-1. Ou r results suggest that contamination of PBSC harvests with neoplastic cells may not contribute to disease progression following high-dose ch emotherapy in advanced malignant melanoma.