The extent to which melanoma alters tissue-resident dendritic cell function correlates with tumorigenicity

We have shown that melanoma-derived factors alter the function of differentiated tissue-resident dendritic cells (DC) in a tumorigenicity-dependent manner. Soluble factors, including TGF beta 1 and VEGF-A, contributed to dendritic cell dysfunction associated with a highly-aggressive melanoma and conferred a phenotype upon DC likely to favor immune escape and tumor outgrowth.