Production of multiple cytokines by cultured human melanomas.

We screened a panel of 8 primary and 21 metastatic melanoma cell lines for constitutive secretion of cytokines. Melanomas expressed bioactivity for TGF-beta (8/25 lines) and IFN (7/12), but not IL-2. Immunoassays detected IL-1 alpha (4/25), IL-1 beta (12/25), IL-6 (13/29), IL-8 (29/29), TGF-beta 2 (5/12) and GM-CSF (11/29), but not IL-3, IL-4, TNF-alpha, or IFN-gamma. There was no preferential association of cytokine production with cells cultured from primary versus metastatic disease, and only IL-8 was produced by all lines tested. These data demonstrate that cultured melanomas produce a variety of cytokines which are potentially capable of influencing tumor growth in vivo.