Abstract
Dendritic cell-based tumor immunotherapy is widely known to elicit protective anti-tumor immune responses, although the safety and effectiveness have yet to be thoroughly explored. We introduce here a novel immunotherapy for melanoma, percutaneous peptide immunization.
A disruption in the stratum corneum barrier results in enhancement of permeability and activation of epidermal Langerhans cells which function as strong antigen presenters for T cells. Topical application of melanoma-associated antigen peptides onto the barrier-disrupted skin specifically induces tumoricidal immune responses in vivo. In addition, percutaneous peptide application has demonstrated a certain degree of effectiveness in patients with stage III/IV melanoma. In the future, control of the regulatory immune mechanism against tumor immunity would improve our strategy.[Skin Cancer (Japan) 2009 ; 24 : 164-173]