Melanoma vaccines

Remarkable advances in tumor vaccination have been made since Coley first deliberately infected cancer patients with both live and heat-killed bacteria. Melanoma is the most immunogenic solid tumor and, as such, has served as the major model for tumor vaccine investigation in both the laboratory and the clinic. Many advances in the field of melanoma vaccination have been based on an improved understanding of the cellular interaction required to induce a specific antitumor immune response. As a result of this new knowledge, many clinical trials of melanoma vaccines are now under way, and vaccines for metastatic melanoma have shown evidence of clinical effectiveness. This paper outlines the current status of melanoma vaccination. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.