Genzyme Molecular Oncology announced data from an early stage clinical trial in melanoma. The findings from the study were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference taking place in Chicago. Frank G. Haluska, at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, was the lead investigator of the Phase I/II trial and presented the clinical results.

"Data from this clinical trial further demonstrate that vaccine immunization approaches in cancer can be safe and effective in creating measurable immune responses in some patients with melanoma," stated Dr. Haluska. "While there are potential advantages with this vaccine approach, the most appropriate way in which to deliver the vaccine continues to be explored."

The gene therapy vaccine approach tested in this clinical trial combined two of the most widely expressed melanoma tumor antigens, MelanA/MART1 and gp100. Antigens are proteins that are present in cancer cells and prompt an immune response to those cells.

A common viral vector modified to express one of the two antigens was used in the study to deliver the vaccine intradermally, or between the layers of the patient's skin. This trial was the first one of its kind to administer the cancer vaccine directly under the skin at multiple injection sites.

The trial sites included Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, U.S. Oncology in Dallas, Oncology Specialists in Chicago, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. Due to interest among investigators and eligible patients, Genzyme Molecular Oncology expanded the trial protocol last spring to include additional patients.