A phase 1/2 study combining gemcitabine, Pegintron and p53 SLP vaccine in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Preclinical tumor models show that chemotherapy has immune modulatory properties which can be exploited in the context of immunotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and immunogenicity of combinations of such an immunomodulatory chemotherapeutic agent with immunotherapy, p53 synthetic long peptide (SLP) vaccine and Pegintron (IFN-α) in patients with platinum-resistant p53-positive epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Experimental Design: This is a phase 1/2 trial in which patients sequential 6 cycles of gemcitabine (1000 mg/kg2 iv; n = 3), gemcitabine with Pegintron before and after the first gemcitabine cycle (Pegintron 1 μg/kg sc; n = 6), and gemcitabine and Pegintron combined with p53 SLP vaccine (0.

Monitoring regulatory T cells in clinical samples: consensus on an essential marker set and gating strategy for regulatory T cell analysis by flow cytometry.

Regulatory T cell (Treg)-mediated immunosuppression is considered a major obstacle for successful cancer immunotherapy. The association between clinical outcome and Tregs is being studied extensively in clinical trials, but unfortunately, no consensus has been reached about (a) the markers and (b) the gating strategy required to define human Tregs in this context, making it difficult to draw final conclusions. Therefore, we have organized an international workshop on the detection and functional testing of Tregs with leading experts in the field, and 40 participants discussing different analyses and the importance of different markers and context in which Tregs were analyzed.

Effect of hypoxic stress on migration and characteristics of monocytes in uveal melanoma.

Importance: Among the characteristics of uveal melanoma that are associated with a poor prognosis are a large tumor size and the presence of increased numbers of lymphocytes and macrophages. In rapidly growing tumors, reduction in oxygen tension may occur with increased distance from blood vessels, which we hypothesize may lead to an inflammatory microenvironment, further stimulating tumor growth.

Objectives: To analyze whether hypoxia induces uveal melanoma cells to express proinflammatory cytokines and whether tumor supernatant (TSN) affects monocyte migration and differentiation.

Chemotherapy alters monocyte differentiation to favor generation of cancer-supporting M2 macrophages in the tumor microenvironment.

Current therapy of gynecologic malignancies consists of platinum-containing chemotherapy. Resistance to therapy is associated with increased levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2)), 2 inflammatory mediators known to skew differentiation of monocytes to tumor-promoting M2 macrophages. We investigated the impact of cisplatin and carboplatin on 10 different cervical and ovarian cancer cell lines as well as on the ability of the tumor cells to affect the differentiation and function of cocultured monocytes in vitro.

Interleukin-6/interleukin-6 receptor pathway as a new therapy target in epithelial ovarian cancer.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is a major problem as about 75% of patients develop recurrence after initial primary treatment and tumors are often chemoresistant. This article reviews the role of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) in chemoresistance and suppression of tumor immunity in ovarian cancer and provides the rationale for modulating the IL-6/ IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) induced pathway as a potential new target for the treatment of ovarian cancer. IL-6 is elevated in serum and ascites of ovarian cancer patients and increased IL-6 levels correlate with chemoresistance and poor prognosis in these patients.