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Long-term WT1 peptide vaccination for patients with acute myeloid leukemia with minimal residual disease

Leukemia volume 26, pages 1410–1413 (2012)Cite this article

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) still has a rather poor prognosis, which is mainly ascribed to relapse in the majority of patients despite achievement of complete remission (CR). To prevent relapse, minimal residual disease (MRD) remaining in CR has to be completely eradicated. The graft-versus-leukemia effect induced by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the most powerful mechanism for eradication of MRD, thus strongly suggesting the therapeutic potential of immunotherapy.

The Wilms’ tumor gene WT1 is highly expressed in various types of malignancies, and the WT1 protein is one of the most promising leukemia and tumor-associated antigens.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Based on findings of pre-clinical studies, we performed a phase I clinical study of WT1 peptide immunotherapy for patients with AML, myelodysplastic syndromes, breast or lung cancer, and were able to confirm the safety and clinical efficacy of this therapy.7 In this report, we describe the long-term outcome for AML patients enrolled in this study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T Umeda and H Yamamoto for their technical assistance and coordination of clinical research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cancer Immunotherapy, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    A Tsuboi & S Nishida

  2. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Allergy and Reumatic Diseases, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    Y Oka, S Morimoto & A Murao

  3. Department of Hematology, Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic Bomb Survivors Hospital, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan

    T Kyo & Y Katayama

  4. Department of Functional Diagnostic Sciences, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    O A Elisseeva & H Sugiyama

  5. Department of Hematology, Nissay Hospital, Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan

    M Kawakami

  6. Department of Cancer Stem Cell Biology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    H Nakajima, N Hosen & Y Oji

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  1. A Tsuboi
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  2. Y Oka
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  5. O A Elisseeva
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  10. H Nakajima
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  13. H Sugiyama
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H Sugiyama.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Tsuboi, A., Oka, Y., Kyo, T. et al. Long-term WT1 peptide vaccination for patients with acute myeloid leukemia with minimal residual disease. Leukemia 26, 1410–1413 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2011.343

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