Durable complete response of refractory, progressing metastatic melanoma after treatment with a patient-specific vaccine

Cancer Biother Radiopharm. 2010 Oct;25(5):553-7. doi: 10.1089/cbr.2010.0819. Epub 2010 Sep 19.

Abstract

A patient with metastatic melanoma who experienced a durable complete response after treatment with a patient-specific vaccine has been described in this article. This 59-year-old woman presented with cervical spine metastases and, within the year, had experienced local disease progression and, despite various therapies, metastases to the axilla, rectum, gall bladder, and multiple soft-tissue sites. She had previously received radiation therapy, combination chemotherapy, interleukin-2 plus interferon biotherapy, and gamma knife radiosurgery, and undergone multiple surgical resections. At the time vaccine therapy was initiated, she had multiple, new, measurable, soft-tissue metastases that were increasing in size. She was treated with a vaccine consisting of autologous dendritic cells incubated with irradiated tumor cells from an autologous tumor cell line and suspended in granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), with subcutaneous injections once a week for 3 weeks and monthly for 5 months. There was evidence of disease regression by the completion of therapy. A few months later a complete response was documented by radiologic scans, and subsequently reconfirmed at 6-month intervals. She remains in complete remission >2.5 years after starting the vaccine, and >2 years after completing the vaccine, and survives >4 years after her initial presentation with bone, bowel, and lymph node metastases. This is the first time she has been in a complete remission since her initial diagnosis. Patient-specific vaccines can sometimes induce durable complete regression of progressing soft-tissue melanoma metastases.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Cancer Vaccines / therapeutic use*
  • Disease Progression
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Melanoma / drug therapy*
  • Melanoma / pathology
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Remission Induction
  • Skin Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Cancer Vaccines