[Retrospective study of the effectiveness of human tyrosinase vaccination in eight horses]

Dermal melanoma is a common neoplastic disease in horses, which occurs particularly in gray horses. There are various local and systemic therapeutic approaches to treat this skin tumor. Vaccination with human tyrosinase, ONCEPT ® vaccine, is a newer type of systemic melanoma therapy. In this study, the effectiveness of this ONCEPT ® vaccine was retrospectively examined in eight treated horses. In half of the horses (4) a positive change in tumor growth in the sense of retardation, stagnation and, in one of these horses, even reduction in the size of the melanomas was observed. Of the remaining four horses, no change was found in three horses and an acceleration in growth was found in one horse. Half of the treated animals (4) showed side effects associated with the vaccine, three had mild and one moderate to severe side effects.