title: Dendritic cells (II): Role and therapeutic implications in cancer.
abstract: The potential to harness the effectiveness and specificity of the immune system underlies the growing interest in cancer immunotherapy. One such approach uses bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs), phenotypically distinct and very potent antigen-presenting cells, to present tumour-associated antigens (TAAgs) and, thereby, generate tumour-specific immunity. Support for this strategy comes from animal studies that have demonstrated that DCs, when loaded ex vivo with tumour Ags or pulsed with peptides and administered to cancer-bearing hosts, can elicit T cell-mediated cancer destruction. These observations have led to clinical trials designed to investigate the immunological and clinical effects of Ag-pulsed DCs administered as a therapeutic vaccine to patients with cancer. In the design and conduct of such trials, important considerations include Ag selection, methods for introducing TAAgs into MHC class I and II processing pathways, methods for isolating and activating DCs, and route of administration. Although current DC-based vaccination methods are cumbersome and complex, promising preliminary results from clinical trials in patients with malignant lymphoma, melanoma, and prostate cancer suggest that immuno-therapeutic strategies, that take advantage of the unique properties of DCs, may ultimately prove both efficacious and widely applicable treatment in patients with cancer.
authors.affiliation: Section of Surgery, E Floor, West Block, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satthaporn
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Eremin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007157:Immunologic Surveillance; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology