ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Conjunctival malignant melanoma (CMM) is a rare malignancy and in the advanced setting there is no effective treatment. In contrast, half of cutaneous melanomas have BRAF mutations and treatment with BRAF inhibitors is established for patients with disseminated disease. The most common form of ocular melanoma, uveal melanoma, lacks these mutations, however, their presence has been reported for CMM. CASE PRESENTATION: We used the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib to treat a 53 year-old female suffering from a BRAF(V600E) mutated metastatic CMM. The patient benefited from the treatment, a response was evident within a week and she experienced a progression free survival of four months. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first described case of response to vemurafenib treatment in a patient with ocular melanoma.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents/administration & dosage , Indoles/administration & dosage , Melanoma/drug therapy , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/genetics , Sulfonamides/administration & dosage , Uveal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use , Disease-Free Survival , Female , Humans , Indoles/therapeutic use , Melanoma/genetics , Middle Aged , Mutation , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/antagonists & inhibitors , Sulfonamides/therapeutic use , Treatment Outcome , Uveal Neoplasms/genetics , VemurafenibABSTRACT
We assessed T-cell responses in young osteosarcoma patients vaccinated with 105AD7, 1-6 months after having received chemotherapy. 105AD7 is a human anti-idiotypic antibody mimicking CD55, a glycoprotein that protects from attack by complement and which is overexpressed on osteosarcoma cells. Seven out of 21 investigated patients made a IFN-gamma T-cell response against the vaccine, 105AD7 as assessed by ELISPOT. Cytokine secretion was analysed using Luminex assays and revealed TNF-alpha and GM-CSF responses not only to the vaccine but also towards the native antigen, CD55, in 5 / 14 (36%) of investigated patients. Importantly, the Luminex assay was found to be more sensitive than the more established T-cell assays (ELISPOT and proliferation assay), since responses towards the native antigen were recorded in this assay. Clinical responses and induction of immune responses to both the anti-idiotype and the native CD55 antigen support the use of CD55 as a target in cancer treatment.
