Peptide vaccines for patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
The majority of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) under 60 years of age reach a complete hematological remission after intensive chemotherapy. However, only 20-40% of all patients with AML achieve a disease-free survival of more than 5 years. The graft-versus-leukemia effect observed after allogeneic stem cell transplantation and donor lymphocyte infusions strongly suggests that T lymphocytes play a major role in the rejection of leukemic cells. Vaccination with leukemia-associated antigen (LAA) peptides might constitute a way to augment the graft-versus-leukemia effect. Peptide vaccination causes no major side effects, which is of particular note as most AML patients are people over 60 years of age, often suffering from concomitant disease. This review summarizes approaches to define appropriate LAAs as targets of a T-cell-based vaccine immunotherapy. Current clinical LAA peptide vaccination protocols targeting Wilms' tumor gene, proteinase-3 and the receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility are reviewed and an outlook to dendritic cells, adjuvants and short oligodenucleotides is given.
Head of Clinical Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Department of Internal Medicine III, University of Rostock, Ernst-Heydemann-Str. 6, 18057 Rostock, Germany. michael.schmitt@med.uni-rostock.de
Michael
M
Schmitt
Rosaely
R
Casalegno-Garduño
Xun
X
Xu
Anita
A
Schmitt
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D020544:Graft vs Leukemia Effect; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014611:Vaccination; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit