expression of cd44 isoforms and beta 16branched oligosaccharides in human malignant melanoma is correlated with tumor progression but not with metastatic potential cd44 a family of closely related glycoproteins generated by alternative splicing as well as the increased beta 16branching of asnlinked oligosaccharides beta 16branches have been implicated in tumor progression and metastasis we have investigated the expression of cd44 standard cd44s various cd44 splice variants cd44v3 v4 v5 v6 and v9 and of beta 16branches in a total of 37 paraffinembedded human primary melanomas and metastases out of the 28 studied primary melanomas 27 were positive for cd44s 21 for cd44v5 cytoplasmic staining and 26 for beta 16 branches furthermore superficial spreading melanomas showed a significant p 0004 stronger staining for cd44s than the thick 15 mm nodular melanomas whereas no significant difference was found with regard to staining for cd44v5 and beta 16branches eight of the 9 studied melanoma metastases were positive for cd44s 6 for cd44v5 cytoplasmic staining and 7 for beta 16branches no cd44v3 v4 v6 and v9 could be detected in any of the tumors on average metastases as compared to primary tumors exhibited a significant p 0002 weaker staining for cd44s however metastasizing melanomas could not be distinguished from nonmetastasizing ones based on cd44 immunostaining