Isolated peptides composed of the amino acid sequence of the modified MELK epitope peptide or immunologically active fragments thereof that bind to HLA antigens and have higher cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) inducibility than that of the wild type MELK epitope peptide and thus are suitable for use in the context of cancer immunotherapy or endometriosis immunotherapy, more particularly cancer vaccines or endometriosis vaccines are described herein. The present invention further provides peptides that include one, two, or several amino acid insertions, substitutions or additions to the aforementioned peptides or fragments, but yet retain the requisite cytotoxic T cell inducibility. Further provided are nucleic acids encoding any of these aforementioned peptides as well as pharmaceutical substances and compositions including any of the aforementioned peptides or nucleic acids. The peptides, nucleic acids, pharmaceutical substances and compositions of this invention find particular utility in the treatment of cancers, tumors, and endometriosis.於此揭露經分離之胜肽，係由經修飾之MELK抗原決定位胜肽或其免疫活性片段之胺基酸序列所組成，其與一人類白血球組織抗原結合且具有比野生型MELK抗原決定位胜肽高的細胞毒殺性T淋巴球誘發能力，且因此適合用於癌症免疫治療或子宮內膜異位症免疫治療，特別是癌症疫苗或子宮內膜異位症疫苗背景中。本發明更提供包括一、二或數個胺基酸插入、取代或添加至上述胜肽的胜肽，但保持必不可少的細胞毒殺性T淋巴球誘發能力。更提供編碼出任何這些上述胜肽的核酸與包括任何上述胜肽或核酸的藥學物質與組合物。本發明之胜肽、核酸、藥學物質與組合物於癌症、腫瘤與子宮內膜異位症之治療中提供特別的效用。
