Immunotherapy of malignant melanoma with vaccinia virus

Reflections on the Histopathology of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Melanoma and the Host Immune Response

“…Direct interactions of the lymphocytes with melanoma cells were observed with pyknosis of melanoma cells. Roenigk and colleagues (20) reported on a similar response of vaccinia virus injections into metastatic melanoma nodules. These changes certainly reinforced earlier suggestions for developing a therapy that utilizes the lymphocyte response to control melanoma.…”

Type I interferon signaling limits viral vector priming of CD8+ T cells during initiation of vitiligo and melanoma immunotherapy

“…Vaccinia virus has been used as a recombinant vaccine vector because of its large genome, which allows for insertion and high‐level expression of foreign genes, and because it replicates in the cytoplasm and poses no risk of integration of inserted DNA into the host genome (Jacobs et al., 2009). Vaccinia virus has been used for the treatment of melanoma either by direct injection into the tumor, or through vaccination of recombinant vaccinia virus expressing tumor‐associated antigens (Drexler et al., 1999; Oertli et al., 2002; Roenigk et al., 1974). Expression of MDAs increased specific anti‐tumor CD8 + T‐cell frequencies and improved clinical responses.…”

Does Immunotherapy Have Any Value In the Treatment of Malignant Melanomas?

“…Cellular and humoral immunity with cytotoxic effect on malignant cells has also been demonstrated . Malignant melanomas have been the subject of intensive therapeutic trials to determine the effectiveness of various treatment in improving survival . Specific antigens of malignant melanomas have been identified and because metastases from malignant melanomas are frequently to the skin and regional lymph nodes, it is easy to assess immunotherapy because of visibility or accessibility of such metastases.…”