A number of melanoma vaccines, made from whole melanoma cells or components of melanoma cells, are being tested in Phase II or III trials in patients after surgical removal of high risk primary or regional lymph node metastases, or in those with disseminated melanoma. During the progress of these trials, a number of melanoma antigens and their peptide epitopes that are recognised by human T-cells have been described. These findings and new information about antigen recognition by human T-cells have made it possible to explore the use of peptide epitopes targeted at T-cells as melanoma vaccines. Preliminary results are encouraging and suggest that it may soon be possible to use well defined vaccines, selected on the basis of the antigenic phenotype of the patient's melanoma and their HLA status. Equally exciting advances have been made preparing and using recombinant viral vectors containing genes that code for melanoma antigens. Experimental studies on the use of naked DNA as vaccines are also proceeding. Several fundamental obstacles preventing the effective use of T-cell epitope vaccines remain. These include selection of HLA and tumour antigen loss variants by the immune system, and conditioning of an ineffective immune response by the growing tumour. These aspects suggest that the development of effective vaccine therapy in the future may require a combination of strategies designed to stimulate HLA-restricted and -non-restricted effector cells, and judicious use of cytokines to obtain an effective immune response.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1517/13543784.6.3.267 | DOI Listing |
Chembiochem
January 2025
Sun Yat-Sen University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Shenzhen), 132, East Outer Ring Road, Panyu, 518107, Shenzhen, CHINA.
In clinical practice, thymopentin (TP-5) is a commonly utilized immunomodulatory peptide drug. The relatively short half-life of TP-5, however, significantly limits its applicability in immunotherapy. Inspired by the structure of the TLR2 ligand lipopeptide Pam3CSK4, fatty acid-modified TP-5 peptides were designed and synthesized in this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650031, China.
Immunogenic cell death (ICD) of tumor cells, which is characterized by releasing immunostimulatory "find me" and "eat me" signals, expressing proinflammatory cytokines and providing personalized and broad-spectrum tumor antigens draws increasing attention in developing a tumor vaccine. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the influenza virus (IAV) is efficient enough to induce ICD in tumor cells and an extra modification of IAV components such as hemeagglutinin (HA) will be helpful for the ICD-induced cells to elicit robust antitumor effects; in addition, to evaluate whether the membrane-engineering polylactic coglycolic acid nanoparticles (PLGA NPs) simulating ICD immune stimulation mechanisms hold the potential to be a promising vaccine candidate, a mouse melanoma cell line (B16-F10 cell) was infected with IAV rescued by the reverse genetic system, and the prepared cells and membrane-modified PLGA NPs were used separately to immunize the melanoma-bearing mice. IAV-infected tumor cells exhibit dying status, releasing high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and exposing calreticulin (CRT), IAV hemeagglutinin (HA), and tumor antigens like tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Immunother Cancer
January 2025
Medical Oncology, Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
Background: CD3 bispecific antibody (CD3 bsAb) therapy has become an established treatment modality for some cancer types and exploits endogenous T cells irrespective of their specificity. However, durable clinical responses are hampered by immune escape through loss of tumor target antigen expression. Induction of long-lasting tumor-specific immunity might therefore improve therapeutic efficacy, but has not been studied in detail yet for CD3 bsAbs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed
January 2025
Center for Nanomedicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:
The development of mRNA vaccines represents a significant advancement in cancer treatment, with more than 120 clinical trials to date demonstrating their potential across various malignancies, including lung, breast, prostate, melanoma, and more challenging cancers such as pancreatic and brain tumors. These vaccines work by encoding tumor-specific antigens and immune-stimulating molecules, effectively activating the immune system to target and eliminate cancer cells. Despite these promising advancements, significant challenges remain, particularly in achieving efficient delivery and precise regulation of the immune response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomater Res
January 2024
The Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China.
Conventional type 1 dendritic cells are essential for antigen presentation and successful initiation of antitumor CD8 T cells. However, their abundance and function within tumors tend to be limited. , a fast-growing, nonpathogenic mycobacterium, proves to be easily modified with synthetic biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!