title: Vaccination with mutant ras peptides and induction of T-cell responsiveness in pancreatic carcinoma patients carrying the corresponding RAS mutation.
abstract: Mutations in codon 12 of K-RAS are frequently found in pancreatic adenocarcinomas. T-cell responses specific for individual RAS mutations can be elicited in vitro by stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with synthetic peptides. Mutant ras peptides are therefore a candidate vaccine for specific immunotherapy in pancreatic carcinoma patients. When vaccinated with a synthetic ras peptide representing the K-RAS mutation in their tumours, a transient ras-specific T-cell response was induced in two of five patients treated. The vaccination protocol involved multiple infusions of large amounts of peptide-pulsed antigen-presenting-cells obtained by leucapheresis. These results indicate that specific T-cell responses against mutations uniquely harboured in tumour cells can be induced in cancer patients by vaccination.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D007937:Leukapheresis; D009154:Mutation; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D018631:ras Proteins