Tumor regressions observed in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with an antigenic peptide encoded by gene MAGE-3 and presented by HLA-A1

✍ Scribed by Marie Marchand; Nicolas van Baren; Patrick Weynants; Vincent Brichard; Brigitte Dréno; Marie-Hélène Tessier; Elaine Rankin; Giorgio Parmiani; Flavio Arienti; Yves Humblet; André Bourlond; Romain Vanwijck; Danielle Liénard; Marc Beauduin; Pierre-Yves Dietrich; Vincenzo Russo; Joseph Kerger; Giuseppe Masucci; Elke Jäger; Jacques De Greve; Jens Atzpodien; Francis Brasseur; Pierre G. Coulie; Pierre van der Bruggen; Thierry Boon

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 886 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19990118)80:2<219::aid-ijc10>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

Thirty-nine tumor-bearing patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with 3 subcutaneous injections of the MAGE-3.A1 peptide at monthly intervals. No significant toxicity was observed. Of the 25 patients who received the complete treatment, 7 displayed significant tumor regressions. All but one of these regressions involved cutaneous metastases. Three regressions were complete and 2 of these led to a disease-free state, which persisted for more than 2 years after the beginning of treatment. No evidence for a cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) response was found in the blood of the 4 patients who were analyzed, including 2 who displayed complete tumor regression. Our results suggest that injection of the MAGE-3.A1 peptide induced tumor regression in a significant number of the patients, even though no massive CTL response was produced. Int.