Reduced relapse rates and induction of tumor-specific immune responses by adjuvant immunotherapy in stage IV melanoma

Stage IV melanoma is still a disease with poor prognosis. Although modern chemo- or chemoimmunotherapies give high response rates in stage IV patients, remissions are usually followed by fast relapses. In order to avoid early relapses after chemotherapy, patients with stage IV disease and either stable disease or partial or complete remission following therapy were treated with 9 million IU IFN alpha subcutaneously 5 times weekly and 6 million IU IL-2 subcutaneously twice weekly. Compared with untreated controls, the rate of progression in the treatment group was reduced from 95% to 35%. Also, time to progression was significantly prolonged. Median survival times in the control group were 25 weeks, whereas median survival time in the treatment group has not yet been rea ch ed. Furthermore, TNF-ELISPOT assays showed a significant increase in MAGE-3 reactive cytotoxic T-cells in the treatment, but not in the control group. Thus,immunotherapy in stage IV disease seems to prolong survival in melanoma patients.