Clinical study of Peptide-cocktail vaccination with tegafur-uracil/leucovorin for advanced colorectal cancer]

cDNA microarray technology coupled with laser microdissection has been used to identify human leukocyte antigen(HLA)-A24-restricted epitope peptides as potential targets for cancer vaccination in colorectal cancer patients. These antigenic peptides were derived from 2 different testis cancer antigens, ring finger protein 43(RNF43) and translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 34(TOMM34). We conducted a clinical trial of vaccines against colorectal cancer specific peptides(RNF43 and TOMM34) with tegafur-uracil/Leucovorin( UFT/LV) for the treatment of advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer. The vaccinations were well tolerated without any adverse events. The highest long-term survival was observed in the group showing cytolytic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses against both RNF43 and TOMM34, followed by the group showing CTL responses against only RNF43 or only TOMM34. A new study has been planned in order to obtain more immunological responses, and we have started a clinical trial of vaccines against multiple peptides[RNF43, TOMM34, forkhead box protein M1(FOXM1), maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase(MELK), holliday junction recognition protein(HJURP), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)1, and VEGFR2]by using UFT/LV for the treatment of advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer.