Cutaneous melanoma may account for just 4% of all skin cancer, but it is the most dangerous.

Cancer Vaccines

Several studies have been carried out to find better ways of assuring the survival of melanoma patients. Antimelanoma vaccines work by inducing the patient's immunity against the tumor, using tumor cells or their antigenic components. The first generation vaccines were prepared from the lysate of whole cells (e.g. Melacine®), autologous tumor cells combined with hapten (e.g. M-Vax®), or allogenic melanoma cells (e.g. CancerVax®). Later came vaccines of tumor cells modified with cytokine factors, dendritic cell vaccines and vaccines using genetically modified bacterial and viral vectors. We have a unit that works exclusively on the research and development of new vaccines, and we currently have two Phase 1 clinical protocols approved by the ethics committee. The first is a polypeptide vaccine (Melan-A/Mart 1, Tyrosinase, gp100) associated to intra-lymphnodal GM-CSF in melanoma patients with high risk of recurrence. The aim of the vaccine is to reduce the recurrence rate. The second is a dendritic cell vaccine with autologous dendritic cells pulsed with lysed and apoptotic tumor cells.