Can Personalized Tumor Vaccines Improve Interleukin-2 Treated Metastatic Melanoma?

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Jan. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- Contact: Vicki Cohn, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, (914) 740-2100, ext. 2156, vcohn@liebertpub.com

Can Personalized Tumor Vaccines Improve Survival of Patients with Interleukin-2 Treated Metastatic Melanoma?

New Rochelle, NY—Metastatic melanoma has a poor prognosis, but treatment with high-dose interleukin-2 (IL2) can extend survival. Now, a combination of IL2 therapy and activation of patients' immune systems using personalized vaccines made from their own tumor cells has been shown to improve survival rates even more than IL2 alone, according to a new article in Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free on the Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals website (http://www.liebertpub.com/cbr).

“High-Dose IL2 in Metastatic Melanoma: Better Survival in Patients Immunized with Antigens from Autologous Tumor Cell Lines” (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/CBR.2013.1565) describes a statistically significant improvement in survival for patients who received IL2 plus tumor cell-based immunotherapy. Authors Robert Dillman, Carol DePriest and Stephanie McClure, Hoag Institute for Research and Education, Hoag Family Cancer Institute, and Cancer Biotherapy Research Group, Newport Beach, CA, found that administration of immunotherapy after IL2 treatment resulted in longer patient survival than if individuals were vaccinated before receiving IL2.

“This is an important addition to the literature on IL2 treatment for metastatic melanoma demonstrating that personalized vaccine therapy contributed to an increased survival rate,” says Co-Editor-in-Chief Donald J. Buchsbaum, PhD, Division of Radiation Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

About the Journal
Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, published 10 times a year in print and online, is under the editorial leadership of Editors Donald J. Buchsbaum, PhD and Robert K. Oldham, MD, Lower Keys Cancer Center, Key West, FL. Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals is the only journal with a specific focus on cancer biotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, cytokine therapy, cancer gene therapy, cell-based therapies, and other forms of immunotherapy. The Journal includes extensive reporting on advancements in radioimmunotherapy and the use of radiopharmaceuticals and radiolabeled peptides for the development of new cancer treatments. Topics include antibody drug conjugates, fusion toxins and immunotoxins, nanoparticle therapy, vascular therapy, and inhibitors of proliferation signaling pathways. Tables of content and a sample issue are available on the Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals website (http://www.liebertpub.com/cbr).

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research; Human Gene Therapy, Human Gene Therapy Methods and Human Gene Therapy Clinical Development; and Stem Cells and Development. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.    140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215    www.liebertpub.com
Phone: (914) 740-2100    (800) M-LIEBERT    Fax:  (914) 740-2101