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. 2008 Sep 1;14(17):5610-8.
doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-08-0116.

Treatment of metastatic melanoma using interleukin-2 alone or in conjunction with vaccines

Franz O Smith  1 , Stephanie G Downey, Jacob A Klapper, James C Yang, Richard M Sherry, Richard E Royal, Udai S Kammula, Marybeth S Hughes, Nicholas P Restifo, Catherine L Levy, Donald E White, Seth M Steinberg, Steven A Rosenberg
Affiliations

Treatment of metastatic melanoma using interleukin-2 alone or in conjunction with vaccines

Franz O Smith et al. Clin Cancer Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: To identify prognostic factors associated with survival beyond 4 years and overall response in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with high-dose bolus i.v. interleukin-2 (IL-2) given either alone or in combination with a variety of melanoma vaccines.

Study design: 684 consecutive patients with metastatic melanoma received high-dose bolus i.v. IL-2 either alone or in conjunction with a variety of melanoma vaccines. Treatments occurred between August 1, 1985 and January 1, 2006.

Results: The overall objective response rate was 13% for patients receiving IL-2 alone and 16% for patients who received IL-2 with vaccine. In patients treated with IL-2 alone (n=305) and IL-2 with vaccine (n=379), having an objective response was associated with survival beyond 4 years (P<0.0001). No pretreatment factors could be identified that were strongly associated with increased rate of objective response or long-term survival in patients receiving IL-2 alone. In patients receiving IL-2 with vaccines, there were increased response rates in patients with s.c. or cutaneous disease only and lower response rates with visceral disease only. Patients who received the gp100:209-217(210M) peptide plus IL-2 showed a strong trend to increased objective responses compared with IL-2 alone (22% versus 12.8%; P=0.01) and also compared with patients who received a variety of vaccines that did not include this immunogenic peptide (13.8%; P=0.009).

Conclusion: IL-2 can produce a modest response rate in patients with metastatic melanoma including patients with durable complete responses. S.c. or cutaneous disease only and vaccination with gp100:209-217(210M) peptide was associated with significant increase in response rates.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan-Meier curve of overall survival for all patients treated with IL-2 alone.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier curve of overall survival for all responding patients treated with IL-2 alone.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan-Meier curve of overall survival for all patients treated with IL-2 with vaccine.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Kaplan-Meier curve of over all survival of responding patients treated with IL-2 with vaccine.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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