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e20011 Background: Immunotherapy offers great promise for cancer treatmet. Strong evidence supports adoptive cell transfer (ACT) and immunemodulation for regression of advanced melanoma. Few studies assessed the potential synergy between these two strategies. Methods: Twelve patients with metastatic melanoma received multiple Melan-A/Mart-1-peptide vaccinations with (n=6) or without (n=6) IMP321 (LAG-3Ig fusion protein) as an adjuvant in combination with lymphodepleting chemotherapy and ACT. All patients were selected on the basis of ex vivo detectable Melan-A-specific CD8 T cell responses and were immunized at day (D) 0, 8, 15, 22, 28, 52, and 74 post-reinfusion. Results: One-week after reinfusion of bulk autologous PBMCs, a significant expansion of Melan-A-specific CD8 T cells was measured in >83% (n=5) and 2-, >4-, and >6-fold higher in the IMP321 group at D15, D30, and D60 (p=0.02). A long-lasting Melan-A-specific CD8 T-cell response was significantly associated with IMP321 (pEMRA (i.e., CD45RA+CCR7-CD127-) cells was observed in the IMP321 group at the peak of the response (p REGS); we observed a negative correlation between the fold increase of Melan-A-specific CD8 T cells and the relative expansion of TREGS. Clinical benefit (assessed as CR, PR, and SD) was observed in none of the control patients vs 67% (4/6) of patients from the IMP321 group, (p=0.02). Conclusions: Vaccination with IMP321 as an adjuvant in combination with lymphodepleting chemotherapy and ACT provided clinical benefit and this was associated with a more robust and durable cellular antitumor immune response, supporting further development of IMP321 for future immunotherapeutic strategies. Clinical trial information: NCT00324623.

With ongoing instrumental improvements Raman spectroscopy (RS) is advancing into the study of surface vibrational modes of semiconductors. On compound semiconductors, like the IIIV's, two distinct types of surface modes occur, microscopic modes being vibrations confined to the surface and macroscopic modes penetrating much deeper into the bulk, dependent on the electromagnetic boundary conditions. Both mode types depend on surface properties, the microscopic ones on the atomic scale, and the macroscopic ones on the scale of the surface polariton wavelength. While the former one delivers surface atomic structure information, the latter one may be useful for instance to study the morphology of surfaces, such as the shape of semiconductor nanowires. We discuss Raman spectra obtained on the atomically well-defined III-V(110) model surfaces and recent results obtained on isolated III-V nanowires. The comparison of both gives insight in the capabilities of Raman scattering from surface phonons: The contributions of surface phonons, surface resonances, and macroscopic modes (Fuchs-Kliewer modes, surface phonon polaritons) to the Raman spectra become evident. (C) 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim