Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Primary Stage II Melanoma
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00005052 |
Recruitment Status : Unknown
Verified January 2006 by National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Recruitment status was: Active, not recruiting
First Posted : January 27, 2003
Last Update Posted : February 9, 2009
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RATIONALE: Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known whether vaccine therapy is more effective than observation alone for melanoma.
PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying vaccine therapy to see how well it works compared to observation alone in treating patients with primary stage II melanoma.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Melanoma (Skin) | Biological: GM2-KLH vaccine Biological: QS21 Procedure: adjuvant therapy | Phase 3 |
OBJECTIVES:
- Compare the effect of immunization with GM2-KLH and QS21 to observation on the disease-free survival of patients with primary cutaneous stage II melanoma after adequate surgery.
- Determine overall survival and toxicity in the two treatment arms.
OUTLINE: This is a randomized, open-label, parallel, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center, tumor thickness (greater than 1.5 to 3.0 mm vs greater than 3.0 to 4.0 mm vs greater than 4.0 mm), gender, ulceration (yes vs no), and presence of additional staging procedures of regional lymph nodes (yes vs no). Patients are randomized to one of two arms.
- Arm I: Patients are vaccinated with GM2-KLH and QS21 subcutaneously on day 1 of weeks 1-4, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 120, and 144 for a total of 14 vaccinations.
- Arm II: Patients undergo observation. Patients are followed every 6 months for 7 years.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 1300 patients (650 per arm) will be accrued for this study within 36 months.
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Adjuvant Ganglioside GM2-KLH/QS-21 Vaccination: Post-Operative Adjuvant Ganglioside GM2-KLH/QS-21 (BMS-248479) Vaccination Treatment After Resection of Primary Cutaneous Melanoma Thicker Than 1.5mm (AJCC/UICC Stage II, T3-T4N0M0), a 2-Arm Multicenter Randomized Phase III Trial vs. Observation |
Study Start Date : | December 1999 |

- Disease-free survival
- Duration of survival
- Toxicity as assessed by CTC v2

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years to 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
-
Histologically confirmed primary stage II melanoma greater than 1.5 mm without evidence of lymph node metastases
- T3 or T4, N0, M0
- Must originate in the skin
-
Wide excision with a minimum of 1-2 cm margin surrounding primary lesion or biopsy scar
- No more than 56 days since definitive surgical treatment (wide excision)
- No more than 12 weeks since primary surgery
- No clinical, radiological, or pathological evidence of incompletely resected disease, lymph node metastases, in-transit metastasis, or any distant metastatic disease
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
Age:
- 18 to 80
Performance status:
- ECOG 0-1
Life expectancy:
- Not specified
Hematopoietic:
- WBC at least 3,000/mm^3
- Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3
- Hemoglobin at least 9.8 g/dL
Hepatic:
- SGOT/SGPT no greater than 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
- Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2 times ULN
- LDH no greater than 2 times ULN
- Bilirubin no greater than 2 times ULN
- Hepatitis B and C negative
Renal:
- Creatinine normal
Other:
- Not pregnant or nursing
- Negative pregnancy test
- No prior or other concurrent cancer except carcinoma in situ of the cervix or basal or squamous cell skin cancer
- No autoimmune disorders
- No conditions requiring systemic treatment with immunosuppressive drugs including treatment with systemic corticosteroids
- No history of CNS demyelinating or inflammatory disease
- No hereditary or acquired peripheral neuropathy
- No other significant medical or surgical condition or psychiatric disorders requiring medication that would preclude study
- No history of severe allergic reaction to shellfish
- HIV negative
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
Biologic therapy:
- No prior immunotherapy
- No other concurrent biologic therapy
Chemotherapy:
- No prior systemic chemotherapy
- No concurrent cytotoxic chemotherapy
Endocrine therapy:
- No concurrent hormonal therapy except replacement therapy
- No concurrent corticosteroids
- No concurrent chronic systemic steroids
Radiotherapy:
- No prior adjuvant radiotherapy
- No concurrent radiotherapy
Surgery:
- See Disease Characteristics
Other:
- No prior preoperative infusion or perfusion therapy
- No concurrent immunosuppressive medications
- No other concurrent anticancer therapy

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00005052

OverallOfficial: | Alexander M. M. Eggermont, MD, PhD | Daniel Den Hoed Cancer Center at Erasmus Medical Center |
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00005052 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
CDR0000067645 EORTC-18961 BMS-CA152-003 |
First Posted: | January 27, 2003 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | February 9, 2009 |
Last Verified: | January 2006 |
stage II melanoma |
Melanoma Neuroendocrine Tumors Neuroectodermal Tumors Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal |
Neoplasms by Histologic Type Neoplasms Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue Nevi and Melanomas |