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Complete remission in a patient with recurrent acute myeloid leukemia induced by vaccination with WT1 peptide in the absence of hematological or renal toxicity

Leukemia volume 18, pages 165–166 (2004)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

The transcription factor Wilms' tumor protein 1 (WT1) has recently attracted much interest as target for cancer immunotherapy as reviewed by Rosenfeld et al1 in the July issue of Leukemia. It is strongly overexpressed in leukemic blasts in the majority of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)2 and chronic myeloid leukemia as well as various carcinomas. WT1 plays a key role in AML, as its inhibition by antisense oligonucleotides leads to growth arrest, differentiation and apoptosis.3 HLA-A0201- and HLA-A24-restricted epitopes from WT1 were identified and cytotoxic T cells raised against these epitopes lysed leukemic blasts but not hematopoietic stem cells.4 In animal models, a vigorous T-cell response can be elicited by vaccination with the WT1 epitope 126–134, which is homologous to the human epitope, resulting in rejection of WT1-expressing tumor cells.5

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by a grant from the German José-Carreras Foundation.

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  1. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin-Franklin, Medizinische Klinik III, Haematologie, Onkologie und Transfusionsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    V Mailänder, C Scheibenbogen, E Thiel, A Letsch, I W Blau & U Keilholz

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  1. V Mailänder
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  2. C Scheibenbogen
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Correspondence to U Keilholz.

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Mailänder, V., Scheibenbogen, C., Thiel, E. et al. Complete remission in a patient with recurrent acute myeloid leukemia induced by vaccination with WT1 peptide in the absence of hematological or renal toxicity. Leukemia 18, 165–166 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403186

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