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Monitoring the response to vaccination against melanoma
September 20, 2005A new study published in PLoS Medicine this week describes a way to measure the immune response in people treated with an experimental vaccine to melanoma. The technique involves monitoring how individual immune cells isolated from the patient's blood respond to the vaccine by stimulating the cells on a biological chip and looking at a range of compounds they secrete.
The most surprising finding was the very wide range of responses seen in patients' cells. Although the numbers were small - just 10 patients who had been enrolled in a trial of vaccination against melanoma-the authors were able to pick out some patterns of responses by the cells that also determined how the patient responded clinically to the vaccine. For example in patients whose tumors did not get bigger their cells secreted two particular compounds - Interferon gamma and Tumour Necrosis factor alpha.
Tumor vaccination against melanoma is being extensively investigated and several different vaccines are being assessed in early clinical trials. Unlike vaccinations against infectious diseases however, different people respond very differently to these vaccines, and so far it has not been possible to predict who will and who will not respond. This technique may provide a better way of monitoring response to treatment.
Public Library of Science
Public Library of Science
Melanoma Current Events and Melanoma News RSSBenign or cancerous?
Research into a cancer that is on the rise in the UK is to be presented at the University of Leicester.
Moores UCSD Cancer Center studying novel leukemia vaccine for high-risk patients
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are conducting clinical trials of a novel therapy aimed at revving up the immune system to combat a particularly difficult-to-treat form of leukemia.
Substance tackles skin cancer from 2 sides
By playing it safe and using a two-pronged attack, a novel designer molecule fights malignant melanoma. It was created and tested by an international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn.
Jefferson Department of Surgery announces new pancreas tumor registry
Charles J. Yeo, M.D., Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, announces the establishment of the new Jefferson Pancreas Tumor Registry (JPTR).
Supercomputer provides massive computational boost to biomedical research at TGen
In less time than the blink of an eye, the Translational Genomics Research Institute's new supercomputer at Arizona State University can do operations equal to every dollar in the recent Wall Street bailout.
MicroRNAs make for safer cancer treatments
Viruses -- long regarded solely as disease agents -- now are being used in therapies for cancer. Concerns over the safety of these so-called oncolytic viruses stem from their potential to damage healthy tissues.
Chronic inflammation can help nurture skin cancer, study shows
Inflammation, a frontline defense against infection or disease, can help nurture skin cancer, researchers have found.
Researchers Examine Evolution of Genes that Trigger the Body's Immune Response to Viral Infection
Virginia Commonwealth University Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have traced the evolutionary origin of two genes that serve as primary cellular sensors of infection with RNA viruses, such as influenza, poliovirus, West Nile virus, and HIV, which may ultimately provide researchers with insight into a possible new pathway for the development of innate immunity.
Scripps research scientists enhance immune system attacks on cancer
In an Early Edition issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published online on October 20, 2008, the scientists describe how they used multiple tactics to rev up both innate and adaptive immunity to enhance the body's ability to fight cancer.
Children's National researchers develop novel anti-tumor vaccine
A novel anti-tumor vaccine for neuroblastoma and melanoma developed by scientists and clinicians at Children's National Medical Center in collaboration with investigators from the University of Iowa is showing significant impact on tumor growth in mice.
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