Towards a response model for dendritic cell immunotherapy of advanced metastatic melanoma

Cancer immunotherapy trials conducted over the last few years have concentrated on the analysis of immunological markers of response to antigenically well defined vaccines. Improvements in the quantity or quality of T cell responses, in a patient population, are proposed to allow a rational basis for improved clinical outcomes. However, using current methodologies, only weak immune correlates of clinical response have been found. Further, little attention has been given to other patient or tumour characteristics predisposing to favourable clinical responses following immunotherapy. Establishing such correlates is fundamental to understanding how vaccines work. We have followed this line of investigation with a matured, autologous, dendritic cell/irradiated melanoma cell vaccine for Stage IV melanoma patients