Novel immunologic approaches to the management of malignant melanoma.
In the past decade, the discovery of tumor antigens recognized by T cells has revolutionized the tumor vaccine field. The appreciation that peptides are bound to and restricted by major histocompatibility class I and II molecules for immune recognition has encouraged a number of early-phase clinical trials of peptide vaccines. I summarize herein the rationale for and the results of a number of clinical trials of peptide vaccines for melanoma, suggesting that immune and clinical responses can be seen in those with metastatic and resected disease using a variety of surrogate assays. The challenge for the future is to correlate the results of immunologic assays with clinical benefit in patients with advanced cancer.
Department of Medicine/Oncology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. jweber@hsc.usc.edu
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D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I / Q000276:immunology; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008545:Melanoma / Q000628:therapy*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit