title: Targeting CD20 in melanoma patients at high risk of disease recurrence.
abstract: Melanomas contain distinct cell subpopulations. Several of these subpopulations, including one expressing CD20, may harbor stem cell-like or tumor-initiating characteristics. We hypothesized that patients at high risk of disease recurrence could benefit from an adjuvant anti-CD20 therapy. Therefore, we initiated a small pilot trial to study the effect of the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in a group of melanoma patients with stage IV metastatic disease who had been rendered without evident disease by way of surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. The major objective was safety, while secondary objectives were description of recurrence-free intervals (RFI) and overall survival (OS). Nine patients received rituximab at 375 mg/m(2) qw for 4 weeks followed by a maintenance therapy every 8 weeks. Treatment was discontinued after 2 years or with disease recurrence. Treatment was well tolerated. After a median observation of 42 months, the median neither of RFI nor of OS has been reached. Despite therapy that ended after 2 years, six out of nine patients are still alive and five of them are recurrence-free. Though the patient number is too small for definitive conclusions, our data may represent a first example of the potential therapeutic value of targeting CD20(+) cell populations-at least for a subset of patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinc
authors.forename: Rajasekharan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Somasundaram
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hörmann
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karanikas
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jalili
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grabmeier-Pfistershammer
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gschaider
authors.forename: Chiou-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Mei-Yu
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Meenhard
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herlyn
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stingl
authors.forename: Stephan N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018951:Antigens, CD20 / Q000276:immunology*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012306:Risk; D000069283:Rituximab; D055502:Secondary Prevention
chemical_list: D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D018951:Antigens, CD20; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000069283:Rituximab