Positive staining for IL13Rα2 expression was detected in 14 samples (12 primary tumours; 2 metastatic tumours) out of 187 independent human melanoma samples (137 primary tumours; 50 metastatic tumours), which corresponded to 7.5% (14/187) of total cases examined, suggesting that IL13Rα2 was expressed in a group of human melanoma. Here, IL13RA2 is linked to metastatic neoplasm.