Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Therapeutic vaccination directed to induce an anti-tumoral T-cell response is a field of extensive investigation in the treatment of melanoma. However, many vaccination trials in melanoma failed to demonstrate a correlation between the vaccine-specific immune response and therapy outcome. This has been mainly attributed to immune escape by antigen loss, rendering us in the need of new vaccination targets.Patients and methods
This phase-II trial investigated a peptide vaccination against survivin, an oncogenic inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein crucial for the survival of tumor cells, in HLA-A1/-A2/-B35-positive patients with treatment-refractory stage-IV metastatic melanoma. The study endpoints were survivin-specific T-cell reactivity (SSTR), safety, response, and survival (OS).Results
Sixty-one patients (ITT) received vaccination therapy using three different regimens. 55 patients (PP) were evaluable for response and survival, and 41/55 for SSTR. Patients achieving progression arrest (CR + PR + SD) more often showed SSTRs than patients with disease progression (p = 0.0008). Patients presenting SSTRs revealed a prolonged OS (median 19.6 vs. 8.6 months; p = 0.0077); multivariate analysis demonstrated SSTR as an independent predictor of survival (p = 0.013). The induction of SSTRs was associated with gender (female vs. male; p = 0.014) and disease stage (M1a/b vs. M1c; p = 0.010), but not with patient age, HLA type, performance status, or vaccination regimen.Conclusion
Survivin-specific T-cell reactivities strongly correlate with tumor response and patient survival, indicating that vaccination with survivin-derived peptides is a promising treatment strategy in melanoma.
SUBMITTER: Becker JC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493663 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Becker Jürgen C JC Andersen Mads H MH Hofmeister-Müller Valeska V Wobser Marion M Frey Lidia L Sandig Christiane C Walter Steffen S Singh-Jasuja Harpreet H Kämpgen Eckhart E Opitz Andreas A Zapatka Marc M Bröcker Eva-B EB Thor Straten Per P Schrama David D Ugurel Selma S
Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII 20120508 11
<h4>Background</h4>Therapeutic vaccination directed to induce an anti-tumoral T-cell response is a field of extensive investigation in the treatment of melanoma. However, many vaccination trials in melanoma failed to demonstrate a correlation between the vaccine-specific immune response and therapy outcome. This has been mainly attributed to immune escape by antigen loss, rendering us in the need of new vaccination targets.<h4>Patients and methods</h4>This phase-II trial investigated a peptide v ...[more]