• Craig L Slingluff, Gina R Petroni, Galina V Yamshchikov, Donna L Barnd, Shannon Eastham, Holly Galavotti, James W Patterson, Donna H Deacon, Sarah Hibbitts, David Teates, Patrice Y Neese, William W Grosh, Kimberly A Chianese-Bullock, Elizabeth M H Woodson, Catherine J Wiernasz, Priscilla Merrill, Jennifer Gibson, Maureen Ross, and Victor H Engelhard.
• Department of Surgery/Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 22908, USA. cls8h@virginia.edu
• J. Clin. Oncol. 2003 Nov 1; 21 (21): 4016-26.

PurposeTo determine clinical and immunologic responses to a multipeptide melanoma vaccine regimen, a randomized phase II trial was performed.Patients And MethodsTwenty-six patients with advanced melanoma were randomly assigned to vaccination with a mixture of four gp100 and tyrosinase peptides restricted by HLA-A1, HLA-A2, and HLA-A3, plus a tetanus helper peptide, either in an emulsion with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and Montanide ISA-51 adjuvant (Seppic Inc, Fairfield, NJ), or pulsed on monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs). Systemic low-dose interleukin-2 (Chiron, Emeryville, CA) was given to both groups. T-lymphocyte responses were assessed, by interferon gamma ELIspot assay (Chiron, Emeryville, CA), in peripheral-blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and in a lymph node draining a vaccine site (sentinel immunized node [SIN]).ResultsIn patients vaccinated with GM-CSF in adjuvant, T-cell responses to melanoma peptides were observed in 42% of PBLs and 80% of SINs, but in patients vaccinated with DCs, they were observed in only 11% and 13%, respectively. The overall immune response was greater in the GM-CSF arm (P <.02). Vitiligo developed in two of 13 patients in the GM-CSF arm but in no patients in the DC arm. Helper T-cell responses to the tetanus peptide were detected in PBLs after vaccination and correlated with T-cell reactivity to the melanoma peptides. Objective clinical responses were observed in two patients in the GM-CSF arm and one patient in the DC arm. Stable disease was observed in two patients in the GM-CSF arm and one patient in the DC arm.ConclusionThe high frequency of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses and the occurrence of clinical tumor regressions support continued investigation of multipeptide vaccines administered with GM-CSF in adjuvant.

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