Caroline J Voskens, Duane Sewell,
Ronna Hertzano,
Jennifer Desanto,
Sandra Rollins,
Myounghee Lee,
Rodney Taylor,
Jeffrey Wolf,
Mohan Suntharalingam,
Brian Gastman,
John C Papadimitriou,
Changwan Lu,
Ming Tan,
Robert Morales,
Kevin Cullen,
Esteban Celis,
Dean Mann,
Scott E Strome
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ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: We performed a pilot study using Trojan vaccines in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). These vaccines are composed of HLA-I and HLA-II restricted melanoma antigen E (MAGE)-A3 or human papillomavirus (HPV)-16 derived peptides, joined by furin-cleavable linkers, and linked to a "penetrin" peptide sequence derived from HIV-TAT. Thirty-one patients with SCCHN were screened for the trial and 5 were enrolled. METHODS: Enrolled patients were treated with 300 μg of Trojan peptide supplemented with Montanide and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) at 4-week intervals for up to 4 injections. RESULTS: Following vaccination, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 4 of 5 patients recognized both the full Trojan constructs and constituent HLA-II peptides, whereas responses to HLA-I restricted peptides were less pronounced. CONCLUSION: This treatment regimen seems to have acceptable toxicity and elicits measurable systemic immune responses against HLA-II restricted epitopes in a subset of patients with advanced SCCHN. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2012.
Head & Neck 01/2012; · 2.40 Impact Factor
