Evaluation of Soluble Fas Ligand as a Serological Marker for Melanoma

Background: Fas ligand (Fas-L), which is expressed by melanoma cells, can be cleaved from cell membranes and become soluble (soluble Fas-L, sFas-L). No previous study examined sFas-L levels in patients affected with all clinical stages of melanoma. Objective: To investigate if sFas-L can be considered a serological marker for melanoma. Methods: Serological sFas-L values in 114 patients with melanoma and 25 controls were measured by using ELISA. Results: sFas-L values in patients were not significantly higher than in controls. They were not significantly different, moreover, when patient groups belonging to different clinical stages were compared with the control group. Two patients affected with distant metastases had the highest sFas-L values. Conclusion: sFas-L cannot be considered, within the limits of this study, as a serological marker for the detection of melanoma. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether sFas-L can be used as a marker for disease progression and/or prediction of therapy outcome.