Product Review

Oncophage® (vitespen®) - Heat shock protein peptide complex 96-based vaccines in melanoma: How far we are, how far we can get?

Volume 5, Issue 11   November 2009
Pages 727 - 737
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.5.11.9881
Authors: Alessandra di Pietro, Giulio Tosti, Pier Francesco Ferrucci and Alessandro Testori

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Abstract:
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are highly conserved, stress-induced proteins that function as chaperones stabilizing and delivering peptides. In several preclinical studies, tumor derived HSP-peptide complexes (HSPPCs) have been shown to induce immunity against several malignancies. HSP-based vaccines, indeed, work across tumor types, bypassing the need for the identification of the single immunogenic peptide and thus emerging as a class of tumor- and patient-specific vaccines. HSPPC-96-based vaccine vitespen® (formerly Oncophage®) is the first autologous cancer vaccine made from individual patients’ tumors which not only confirmed its activity in different malignancies (e.g., gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic myelogenous leukemia), but was also successfully tested in phase III clinical trials in melanoma and kidney cancer. HSPPC-96-based vaccine also demonstrated an excellent safety profile with almost no toxicity. HSP-based vaccines are emerging as a novel therapeutic approach with a suggestive role in cancer therapy.

Received: March 6, 2009; Accepted: August 23, 2009

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