Humoral immune response in disease‐free advanced melanoma patients after vaccination with melanoma‐associated gangliosides

Several studies have shown that melanoma‐associated gangliosides are immunogenic in melanoma patients and that antibodies against them have a favorable prognostic effect. Our study aims at characterizing the humoral immune response in disease‐free, advanced melanoma patients vaccinated with a total ganglioside fraction extracted from pooled metastases of human melanoma, containing as major gangliosides GM3 and GD3, and as minor ones GM2 and GD2. Prior to vaccination, all patients were made disease‐free by surgical removal of skin, lymph‐node or other distant metastases. Repeated vaccinations were carried out intradermally with gangliosides either in the native form in buffered solution, or in the form of liposomes. Serum samples were collected at regular intervals and assayed by ELISA for the presence of specific IgG and IgM antiganglioside antibodies. Selected samples were tested by immunostaining on thin‐layer plates to specify the ganglioside species involved in the reactivity. Out of 32 evaluable patients, 17 presented a significant increase in antibody titer, mostly of the IgG isotype, which was maximal between 2 and 4 months after starting injections of gangliosides, and gradually disappeared within 1 year. No significant difference could be seen between the group of 20 patients treated with native gangliosides and the group of 12 vaccinated with the gangliosides in liposomes. All gangliosides seemed to be immunogenic, but GM2 and GD2 were somewhat more reactive. The disease‐free intervals for the patients who showed an antibody response to the treatment were significantly higher (p < 0001) than those of the non‐responding group, as compared by the Kaplan‐Meier method.