title: Cancer immunotherapy by fusions of dendritic cells and tumor cells.
abstract: Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent professional antigen-presenting cells and play a critical role in the induction of primary immune responses. DC-based vaccination represents a potentially powerful strategy for cancer immunotherapy. Thus, the use of cancer vaccines to eliminate residual tumor cells is a promising area of investigation. The immunotherapy of tumor antigen-loaded DCs has now been demonstrated in cancer patients and some clinical responses without any significant toxicity. Fusions of DCs and tumor cells represent an alternative but promising approach to overcome the inability of tumor antigens to induce a sustainable T-cell response. This review deals with recent progress in the immunotherapy of cancer with fusions of DCs and tumor cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University, Tokyo, Japan. shigeo_koido@jikei.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koido
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Sadamu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkusa
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tajiri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002459:Cell Fusion / Q000379:methods; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines