tyrosinase + gp100 + mart-1

The **tyrosinase + gp100 + mart-1** vaccine is a multi-antigen cancer immunotherapy developed primarily by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the treatment of melanoma. It targets three well-characterized melanoma-associated differentiation antigens: tyrosinase (TYR), melanocyte lineage-specific antigen GP100 (gp100/PMEL), and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1/Melan-A). These proteins are frequently overexpressed in melanoma cells but exhibit highly restricted expression in normal tissues (primarily melanocytes), making them suitable targets for T-cell mediated therapy. The drug is most commonly formulated as a cocktail of HLA-A2-restricted synthetic peptides—often utilizing modified heteroclitic versions to enhance MHC binding, such as tyrosinase:368-376 (370D), gp100:209-217 (210M), and MART-1:26-35 (27L). These peptides are typically emulsified with an immunologic adjuvant, most notably Montanide ISA-51 (incomplete Freund's adjuvant), or used to pulse autologous dendritic cells ex vivo for a cell-based vaccination approach. By presenting these epitopes to the immune system, the vaccine aims to induce the expansion of antigen-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) capable of selectively identifying and lysing melanoma cells. Clinical development has primarily focused on the adjuvant treatment of resected high-risk melanoma and the management of metastatic disease, frequently in combination with cytokines like GM-CSF or IL-12 and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Other names

MART-1/gp100/tyrosinase vaccinetyrosinase/gp100/MART-1 peptide vaccinemelanoma multi-epitope peptide vaccinetyrosinase/gp100/MART-1 cocktailHLA-A2-binding TYR/MART-1/gp100 multipeptide-pulsed autologous dendritic cell vaccine