hTERT:540-548 peptide vaccine

**hTERT:540-548 peptide vaccine** is an investigational synthetic cancer peptide vaccine developed by the National Cancer Institute. Its active antigen is the HLA-A*0201-restricted nonameric human telomerase reverse transcriptase epitope spanning residues 540-548, with sequence ILAKFLHWL. The vaccine was intended to elicit cytotoxic T-cell responses against tumors expressing hTERT, the catalytic subunit of telomerase. In the NCI metastatic-cancer study, the peptide was emulsified with incomplete Freund's adjuvant; peptide-reactive lymphocytes were induced in some participants, but these cells did not recognize endogenously telomerase-expressing tumor cells and no objective clinical responses were observed. ([pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2374668/))

Other names

telomerase: 540-548 peptide vaccinehTERT:540-548 peptidehTERT540hTERT-540hTERT 540p540p-540p 540ILAKFLHWL