Stage III metastatic melanomas require adequate adjuvant immunotherapy to prevent relapses. Prognostic factors are awaited to optimize the clinical management of these patients. The magnitude of metastatic lymph node invasion and the BRAFV600 activating mutation have clinical significance. Based on a comprehensive immunophenotyping of 252 parameters per patient in paired blood and metastatic lymph nodes performed in 39 metastatic melanomas, we found that blood markers were as contributive as tumor-infiltrated lymphocyte immunotypes, and parameters associated with lymphocyte exhaustion/suppression showed higher clinical significance than those related to activation or lineage.
