Flow cytofluorometric DNA analyses of metastases of human malignant melanomas.

Flow cytofluorometric analyses of DNA content were performed on 38 subcutaneous and lymph node metastases from 32 patients with malignant melanoma. Cells from 8 tumors had DNA patterns corresponding to diploid DNA values, and the remaining 30 had aneuploid cell populations, mostly in the diploid to tetraploid region. Eight tumors contained more than one cell population. The number of S-phase cells varied from 3% to 34%. The number of S-phase cells was significantly higher in aneuploid as compared to diploid cell populations. Patients with a proportion of S-phase cells greater than or equal to 10% had a significantly shorter survival time as compared to patients with less than 10% S-phase cells.