Gene expression improves success of melanoma vaccine.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Expression of at least two of the five HLA class I antigens increased relapse-free survival rates of patients who receive an allogeneic tumor vaccine for treatment of malignant melanoma.

J.A. Sosman and colleagues at the Southwest Oncology Group, an organization involved in multicenter adult cancer clinical trials in the U.S. and Canada, performed a randomized, observation-control led clinical trial to investigate a reported link between expression of HLA class I antigens (HLA-A2, HLA-A28, HLA-B44, HLA-B45, and HLA-C3) and the success of an allogeneic cancer vaccine (Melacine, Corixa Corp., Seattle). The antigen group is known collectively as M5.

The investigators performed serotyping on 553 (80%) of the 689 patients enrolled in the phase III Southwest Oncology Group Trial 9035. All of the subjects had 1.5-4.0 mm cutaneous melanoma tumors and were node negative. Of the tested patients, 294 had been vaccinated and 259 acted as controls.

"Expression of greater than or equal to2 M5 antigens was associated with a superior vaccine treatment effect," said Sosman and colleagues (Adjuvant immunotherapy of resected, intermediate-thickness, node-negative melanoma with an allogeneic tumor vaccine: Impact of HLA class I antigen expression on outcome, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2002;20(8):2067-2075).

After controlling for tumor thickness, method of nodal staging, sex, ulceration, and primary site tumor, 97 (83%) of the ...