Publications by authors named "Carmel Nail"

Background: Breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. There is evidence that immunotherapy may play a role in the eradication of residual disease. Peptide vaccines for immunotherapy are capable of durable immune memory, but vaccines alone have shown sparse clinical activity against breast cancer to date.

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Background: Despite increasing implementation of survivorship care plans (SCPs), cancer survivors still experience unmet needs post-treatment. Rural, low-income survivors experience less planning for supportive care during treatment, which is difficult to overcome after patients complete treatment.
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An incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) commonly used in experimental cancer vaccines has recently been reformulated. Oleic acid used in the surfactant was purified from a vegetable source (olives, IFA-VG) rather than an animal source (beef tallow, IFA-AN). To provide an insight into the adjuvant properties of the new formulation, we reviewed T-cell responses, by enzyme-linked immunospot assay, to multipeptide vaccines in 2 sequential clinical trials that spanned this transition of adjuvants.

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Purpose: A phase I/II trial was performed to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a novel melanoma vaccine comprising six melanoma-associated peptides defined as antigenic targets for melanoma-reactive helper T cells. Source proteins for these peptides include MAGE proteins, MART-1/MelanA, gp100, and tyrosinase.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-nine patients with stage IIIB to IV melanoma were vaccinated with this six-peptide mixture weekly at three dose levels, with a preceding phase I dose escalation and subsequent random assignment among the dose levels.

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Nine participants with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal carcinoma, who were human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A1, HLA-A2, or HLA-A3, were eligible to enroll in a phase 1 study designed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of a peptide-based vaccine. Participants received 5 class I major histocompatibility complex-restricted synthetic peptides derived from multiple ovarian cancer-associated proteins plus a class II major histocompatibility complex-restricted synthetic helper peptide derived from tetanus toxoid protein. The vaccines were administered with granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor in Montanide ISA-51 adjuvant over a 7-week period.

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