DNA flow cytometry in metastases and a recurrency of malignant melanomas. A comparison of results from fresh and paraffin embedded material.

Single cell suspensions from 16 biopsies from 15 patients with metastatic or recurrent malignant melanoma were prepared according to the method described by Vindeløv (1977) and the nuclear DNA content was measured by a laboratory-built flow cytometer. The DNA histograms thus obtained were compared with those obtained from suspensions of single nuclei from the same biopsies after formalin fixation and paraffin embedding, according to the method of Hedley et al. (1983). Linear regression analysis of ploidy values from fresh material compared with those from paraffin blocks showed a strong correlation (R2 = 0.85), while that of the S-phase fraction was somewhat weaker (R2 = 0.66). It is concluded that archival wax preparations of malignant melanoma cell populations are suitable for FCM analysis of ploidy, and to a lesser extent for analysis of fraction of cells in various cell cycle phases.