DNP modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine induced unique T cell-mediated immune response in study.(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Avax Technologies, Inc., (AVXT) announced the presentation of data at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) entitled "Sequence analysis of T cell receptors of lymphocytes infiltrating melanoma metastases after administration of autologous, dinitrophenyl (DNP)-modified vaccine." The study, utilizing new analytical techniques on cells collected in previous clinical trials, indicates that Avax's DNP modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine induced a unique immunological response within the patients' tumors.

Avax's DNP modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine is a therapeutic vaccine for metastatic melanoma made from a patient's own tumor cells that have been treated with a chemical called a hapten to make them more easily recognizable by the immune system. The research team, headed by David Berd at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, showed that administration of the vaccine caused T lymphocytes, a certain type of white blood cell, to accumulate in tumors. Analysis by molecular methods indicated that these T cells, stimulated by the vaccine treatment, possessed structures that were different in each patient, ...