diagnostics Article Loss of Lymphotoxin Alpha-Expressing Memory B Cells Correlates with Metastasis of Human Primary Melanoma Franziska Werner 1 , Christine Wagner 1, Martin Simon 1, Katharina Glatz 2, Kirsten D. Mertz 3,4 , Heinz Läubli 5 , Erika Richtig 6, Johannes Griss 7 and Stephan N. Wagner 1,* 1 Laboratory of Molecular Dermato-Oncology and Tumor Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria;
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[email protected] (M.S.) 2 Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Baselland, 4410 Liestal, Switzerland;
[email protected] 4 University of Basel, 4001 Basel, Switzerland 5 Laboratory for Cancer Immunotherapy, Department of Biomedicine and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland;
[email protected] 6 Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria;
[email protected] 7 Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria;
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[email protected] Abstract: Activated antigen-experienced B cells play an unexpected complex role in anti-tumor immunity in human melanoma patients. However, correlative studies between B cell infiltration and Citation: Werner, F.; Wagner, C.; tumor progression are limited by the lack of distinction between functional B cell subtypes. In this Simon, M.; Glatz, K.; Mertz, K.D.; study, we examined a series of 59 primary and metastatic human cutaneous melanoma specimens Läubli, H.; Richtig, E.; Griss, J.; with B cell infiltration.