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Novel immunologic approaches to the management of malignant melanoma
1Department of Medicine/Oncology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. jweber@hsc.usc.edu
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.
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.