Inadvertent transplantation of a melanoma

A cadaver renal allograft recipient with normal function for over 3 years developed metastatic melanoma and died within months despite cessation of immunosuppression and allograft nephrectomy. Two additional immunotherapeutic modalities were attempted when it became obvious that the tumor was not a de novo malignancy but rather an inadvertently transplanted one. Neither reexposure to the allograft antigens nor administration of alloantiserum from the patient who had received and rejected the mate of the kidney from the same donor affected the rapid growth of the melanoma in our patient. Of extreme interest is that a focus of melanoma was found in the allograft removed from the surviving patient.