New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 (NY-ESO-1), a cancer testis 
antigen, is an ideal target for adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy. Evidence 
from several clinical trials in melanoma and other malignancies shows the 
potential value of targeting the NY-ESO-1 antigen in immune-based therapy of 
metastatic tumors. However, the incidence of NY-ESO-1 expression in metastatic 
melanoma is unknown, and thus, it is unclear how many patients might benefit 
from this therapy. In this study, we analyzed NY-ESO-1 expression in 222 
melanoma specimens, including 16 primary and 206 metastatic tumors. Our results 
support previous findings showing higher expression of NY-ESO-1 in metastatic 
(58/206; 28.2%) versus primary (0/16) tumors. In addition, our results show that 
the epithelioid subtype of melanoma has the highest incidence of NY-ESO-1 
expression. These findings provide evidence of the value of this specific 
adoptive cell transfer therapy for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.