Immune Responses To Antigen-Bearing Dendritic Cells in Patients With Malignancy
Melanoma

About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Melanoma focused on measuring ANTIGENBEARING DENDRITIC CELLS, 98-098
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Diagnosis of metastatic melanoma, AJCC stage III or IV, with histologic confirmation by Dept. of Pathology at MSKCC.
- Patients must be HLA-A*0201 positive.
- Expected survival of greater than 3 months.
- Karnofsky performance status 70 or better.
- Patients may not have received chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation within approximately 4 weeks (approximately 6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin) before participation in this protocol.
- Patients should not be receiving immune modifying pharmacologics (e.g., interferon) for approximately 2-4 weeks before enrollment.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Pregnant (clinically documented or positive pregnancy test within approximately 2 wks of study entry) or lactating women, because immunization will include differentiation antigens shared by melanoma tumors and melanocytes, and immune responses to these differentiation antigens could have unknown developmental sequelae to a fetus or infant.
Pregnancy tests are not required for post-menopausal women, and post-menopausal status by patient report should be documented accordingly.
- Patients requiring systemic corticosteroids or comparable exogenous immunosuppressive agent(s) (no exclusion for use of NSAIDs)
- Patients who have a known immunodeficiency (e.g., infection with HTLV-1,2, HIV-1,2; etc.) because of the T cell defects that would alter their responses and the investigators' ability to assess their outcomes accurately.
- Patients with preexisting retinal or choroidal eye disease.
- Patients with coexisting autoimmune diseases, except vitiligo.
- Patients with significantly impaired hematologic, hepatic, or renal function, e.g., ANC <1000, hgb < 8.0 g/dl, plts < 50,000/ul, AST >3x ULN, creatinine >2.0 or Cl creat <30ml/min, all assessed within approximately two weeks of study entry.
- Patients with serious coexisting medical illness.
- Patients with organ allografts.
- Patients who are s/p splenectomy or s/p splenic irradiation.
- Patients with active brain metastases.
- Patients with organic brain syndrome or psychologic impairment that would preclude participation and compliance with this protocol.
Sites / Locations
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Experimental
1
The vaccine will be split between as many as 10 injections, more or less. Each shot will be about 1/25th to 1/50th of a teaspoon (100 to 200 microliters). Each vaccine will be injected with a tiny needle just under your skin. This will usually cause a very small area of swelling at the injection site that may last for a few minutes to an hour or so. You will receive two additional "booster" doses of the same vaccine every 4-6 weeks. This would mean that you receive a total of three vaccines over about 2-3 months. The vaccines will be given during an outpatient visit. If for some reason, you happen to be in the hospital, you can still receive the vaccines. These visits should take no longer than 15-30 minutes.