Kinetics of immunological parameters in patients with malignant melanoma treated with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion.

Kinetics of immunological parameters such as natural killer (NK) cell activity and tritium-thymidine uptake rate of T lymphocytes by phytohemagglutinin stimulation were investigated using peripheral leukocyte fractions of melanoma patients treated with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion (HILP). Also, serum concentrations of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) were quantified during and after HILP. It was found that NK cell activity was augmented during HILP, and T lymphocyte function was stimulated 24 h and 1 week after HILP with statistical significance. NK cell activities in the cells isolated from perfused and non-perfused circulations were equally augmented during HILP in two patients examined. Serum concentrations of sICAM-1 in the patients who received HILP also increased 24 h or even 1 week after HILP. The stimulation of these immune competent cells and upregulation of sICAM-1 by HILP were independent of the stages of melanoma patients at the time of HILP or the doses of agents which were used for the infusion during HILP. The origin of cells which shed sICAM-1 into the serum of the patients who received HILP remains to be further investigated.