Potential role of CCL27 and CCR10 expression in melanoma progression and immune escape

Aim of this study was to investigate using immunohistochemistry techniques the interrelation between T immunoreactive cells and the expression of CCR10 and its ligand CCL27 in 59 cutaneous melanocytic lesions. In malignant melanomas, T lymphocyte density was significantly decreased from thin melanomas to intermediate and thick ones (P < 0.0005). CCR10 expression was found both in benign and malignant lesions and it was directly correlated with the Breslow depth (P = 0.0298) and inversely with T lymphocyte density (P = 0.0231). Moreover, cases with positive sentinel lymph node tended to have a higher CCR10 expression compared to cases with negative sentinel lymph node (P = 0.0281). When CCR10 and CCL27 expression were evaluated together, CCR10-/CCL27-melanomas tended to have a higher mean density of CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocytes. Our results suggest that in human melanomas CCR10 and CCL27 may act to increase the ability of neoplastic cells to grow, invade tissue, disseminate to lymph nodes and to escape the host immune response.