Third Keystone Symposium on Cellular Immunology and the Immunotherapy of Cancer Antigen Processing and Presentation Autologous Human Dendriphages Pulsed with Synthetic or Natural Tumor Peptides Elicit Tumor-Specific CTLs In Vitro

The recent identification of tumor-associated antigens and tumor-associated antigen-derived peptide epitopes recognized by cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the context of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules has prompted the development of peptide-based vaccines for the treatment of human cancers, particularly melanoma. The design of such clinical protocols requires an understanding of the inherent immunogenicity of the peptide(s) and a choice of a facilitating adjuvant promoting cellular immunity against these peptides. We have evaluated the abilities of a series of defined synthetic peptide epitopes derived from MART- I/Melan-A, gp100, tyrosinase. and MAGE-3 or unfrac…