In a nutshell
The authors evaluated the effect of a type of immunotherapy in treating advanced melanoma. This immunotherapy was found to be safe and effective.
Some background
In advanced melanoma (stage 3 or 4), the cancer spreads to the other parts of the body. This is called metastasis. Immunotherapy is a promising treatment option for this disease. Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Dendritic cells (DC) are important cells of the immune system. They act as messengers between different parts of the immune system. In DC-based immunotherapy, dendritic cells are injected to stimulate the immune system, and kill the tumor cells. This therapy has previously resulted in favorable clinical outcomes. More clinical data are needed to understand the benefit of this therapy in metastatic melanoma.
Methods & findings
The authors aimed to assess the effect of DC-based immunotherapy in advanced melanoma.
14 stage 4 melanoma patients were included in this study. None of the patients had previously received any systemic therapy (drugs that spread througout the body to fight cancer cells).
4 patients showed 12–35 months of progression-free survival (the time following treatment before the disease progressed). 3 of these patients developed CD8+ cells (cells that are responsible for protective immunity). Development of other beneficial immune cells was also noted in these patients. This could probably contribute to longer survival.
Overall, this treatment was well tolerated among the patients. The most common side effects were fever and skin rashes at the site of injection.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that DC-based immune therapy was well tolerated and effective in producing immune response in advanced melanoma patients.
The fine print
A larger patient population is needed for these results to be widely applied.
Published By :
Clinical Cancer Research
Date :
Dec 28, 2015
