HSPPC-96 vaccine in metastatic melanoma patients: from the state of the art to a possible future.

Abstract

Heat-shock proteins are highly conserved, stress-induced proteins with chaperone function for trafficking and delivering peptides within the different compartments of the cell. Tumor-derived heat-shock protein-peptide complexes (HSPPCs) can be used for vaccination against malignancies. In particular, the HSPPC-96-based vaccine vitespen (formerly Oncophage) is the first autologous cancer vaccine made from individual patients' tumors that has shown encouraging results in clinical trials. In Phase I and II clinical trials, this vaccine has shown activity on different malignancies, such as gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic myelogenous leukemia. In Phase III clinical trials in melanoma and kidney cancer, it demonstrated an excellent safety profile with almost no toxicity. Heat-shock protein-based vaccines can be considered as a novel therapeutic approach with a promising role in cancer management.

• Authors: Giulio Tosti, Alessandra di Pietro, Pier Francesco Ferrucci, Alessandro Testori
• Journal: Expert review of vaccines (Expert Rev Vaccines) Vol. 8 Issue 11 Pg. 1513-26 (Nov 2009) ISSN: 1744-8395 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 19863242 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Cancer Vaccines
• Heat-Shock Proteins
• vitespin

Topics

• Cancer Vaccines (adverse effects, immunology, therapeutic use)
• Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic
• Heat-Shock Proteins (adverse effects, immunology, therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Kidney Neoplasms (drug therapy, immunology)
• Melanoma (drug therapy, immunology, secondary)