rVV-mel3 + synthetic melanoma-associated peptides

rVV-mel3 + synthetic melanoma-associated peptides is an experimental heterologous prime-boost cancer immunotherapy developed by the University Hospital Basel for the treatment of advanced melanoma (stages IIb to IV). The regimen consists of a priming phase using a recombinant, replication-inactivated vaccinia virus (rVV-mel3) that encodes three melanoma-associated antigen epitopes—gp100 (280-288), Melan-A/MART-1 (27-35), and tyrosinase (1-9)—along with the costimulatory molecules CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2). This is followed by a boosting phase using synthetic versions of the same three peptides. Both the viral vector and the peptides are administered intranodally under ultrasound guidance to directly target lymph nodes. The regimen is supplemented with subcutaneous granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as an adjuvant to enhance the recruitment and activation of dendritic cells, ultimately aiming to stimulate a potent cytotoxic T lymphocyte response against melanoma cells expressing these differentiation antigens in the context of HLA-A0201.

Other names

synthetic melanoma associated epitopes-University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland-melanomarVV-mel3 vaccinerVV-mel-3 vaccinerVV-mel 3 vaccineIntranodal rVV-mel3 prime/peptide boost immunotherapy