DENDRITIC CELLS VERSUS MONTANIDE TO STIMULATE ANTI-TUMOR IMMUNITY IN MELANOMA

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study hypothesizes that vaccines prepared with dendritic Ag-presenting cells pulsed with candidate melanoma-specific peptides' keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) are superior "boosters" of the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response as compared to vaccines prepared with the same peptides with KLH and QS-21 as adjuvants. The objective is to measure toxicity and immunogenicity in these two arms in patients with HLA-A*0201 positive stage IIB, IIC and/or III melanoma. The endpoints are 1) release of gamma-interferon in peripheral blood lymphocytes when exposed to the melanoma-specific peptides and control Ag's; 2) proportion of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells; 3) anti-tumor activity of CD8+ T cells in a dendritic cell (DC)-based cytolysis assay; and 4) toxicity profile. This randomized, controlled, unblinded (pulsed DC group requires leukopheresis) study addresses optimization of immunotherapy in a group of patients shown to be amenable and responsive to this general approach.