New hope for melanoma patients

A new treatment with the gp100 peptide vaccine followed by IV doses of interleukin-2 is showing promise on treating patients with melanoma. Each year, 38,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma — 7,000 die.

The new treatment is being offered at 18 centers around the country participating in the study developed at the National Cancer Institute. The treatment works by generating more activity from the body’s immune system, thus killing the cancer. A protein in the peptide vaccine tricks the body’s immune system into becoming more active to fight the melanoma. The IV treatment with interleukin-2 further increases the body’s immune cell activity.