The EORTC Melanoma Group exchange program: evaluation of a multicenter monoclonal antibody study

In the framework of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the Immunology and Pathology Subgroups of the Malignant Melanoma Cooperative Group undertook a large multicenter monoclonal antibody (MAb) study. Fourteen laboratories from 7 European countries tested a panel of 23 MAbs for immunohistological staining reactivity for malignant and non-malignant lesions involving the melanocytic lineage. A standardized immunoperoxidase procedure was used and the results were evaluated using a standard protocol and data evaluation form developed in collaboration with the EORTC Data Center. According to this analysis, the antibodies in the panel could be classified into 3 main groups. The first group of MAbs includes those antibodies which stained the majority (greater than 80%) of all primary tumors, irrespective of their Breslow thickness and the majority of metastatic lesions. In addition, these MAbs stained a high percentage of cells within a given lesion. Several antibodies of Group I were likewise reactive with the majority of naevoblasts and with normal melanocytes. The second group of MAbs included antibodies reacting only with a limited number of primary melanomas and metastatic lesions. Antibodies of Group II reacted only weakly, if at all, with normal melanocytes or naevocytes. The percentage of cells within a malignant lesion stained by these MAbs was always rather low. The MAb group III detected surface structures whose expression appeared to be related to tumor progression; they did not react or reacted only weakly with naevi, and they all reacted with a small number of early primary melanomas (less than 0.75 mm). The number of lesions stained increased with increasing Breslow thickness. Our study suggests that the application of a panel of well defined MAbs might be of diagnostic and prognostic value in evaluating malignant melanoma.