Human melanoma cells do not express Fas (Apo-1/CD95) ligand.

A recent report described the expression of Fas ligand (FasL) by melanoma cells as an important mechanism involved in the immune evasion by tumors [M. Hahne et al., Science (Washington DC), 274: 1363-1366, 1996]. To investigate the expression of FasL by melanomas, we screened a panel of early-passage cell lines by functional assay and reverse transcriptase-PCR. Using conditions designed to replicate those in the original report, we did not find functional FasL on any of the 19 human melanoma lines established at the National Cancer Institute. Furthermore, we additionally evaluated our melanoma lines using reverse transcriptase-PCR and found that 0 of the 26 human melanoma cell lines expressed FasL mRNA. FasL mRNA was abundantly expressed by anti-melanoma T-cell lines after activation. These data do not support a role for FasL expression in the escape of melanoma cells from immune destruction.