title: Dendritic cell immunotherapy for breast cancer.
abstract: Novel adjuvant therapies are urgently needed to complement the existing treatment options for breast cancer. The advent of the use of dendritic cells (DCs) for cancer immunotherapy provides a unique opportunity to overcome the relative non-immunogenic property of breast tumours and address the underlying immunodeficiency. To date, the success of this approach has been limited, possibly due to the targeting of specific tumour antigens that rapidly mutate and, thus, become undetectable to the immune system. A more efficient approach would include preparations encompassing multiple antigens, such as those provided by loading of whole tumour cells or tumour RNA. It is proposed that targeting mammary stem cells responsible for resistance to chemo/immunotherapy, through the expression of a broad array of wild-type and mutated tumour antigens in the context of DCs, will become a mainstay for immunotherapy of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Dendritic Cell and Cancer Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinzon-Charry
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: José Alejandro
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: López
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm