The role of peptide and DNA vaccines in myeloid leukemia immunotherapy

Chen Lin,Yangqiu Li

doi:10.1186/1475-2867-13-13

Abstract

While chemotherapy and targeted therapy are successful in inducing the remission of myeloid leukemia as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the disease remains largely incurable. This observation is likely due to the drug resistance of leukemic cells, which are responsible for disease relapse. Myeloid leukemia vaccines may most likely be beneficial for eradicating minimal residual disease after treatment with chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Several targeted immunotherapies using leukemia vaccines have been heavily investigated in clinical and preclinical trials. This review will focus on peptides and DNA vaccines in the context of myeloid leukemias, and optimal strategies for enhancing the efficacy of vaccines based on myeloid leukemia immunization are also summarized.

Highlights

While chemotherapy and targeted therapy are successful at inducing myeloid leukemia remission, the disease remains largely incurable
Ochsenreither et al identified Wilms’ tumor 1 (WT1)-specific T-cell clones from a patient with recurrent acute myeloid leukemia (AML) vaccinated with a WT1 peptide who achieved a complete remission (CR) lasting for 12 months
Increasing data demonstrate that WT1 peptide vaccines may become a safe and cure-oriented therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who have residual disease

Summary

Introduction

While chemotherapy and targeted therapy are successful at inducing myeloid leukemia remission, the disease remains largely incurable. Myeloid leukemia vaccines are most likely beneficial for eradicating minimal residual disease after chemotherapy or targeted therapy [6] the suppressed immune status of patients who receive these treatments may influence their vaccine response. Optimal immunotherapy target antigens are leukemia-specific antigens that are exclusively expressed by leukemia cells, are absent in normal tissues, and can elicit potent immune responses; with the exception of the BCR-ABL and PML-RARα fusion

Results

Conclusion