title: Clinical use of dendritic cells for cancer therapy.
abstract: Since the mid-1990s, dendritic cells have been used in clinical trials as cellular mediators for therapeutic vaccination of patients with cancer. Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy is safe and can induce antitumour immunity, even in patients with advanced disease. However, clinical responses have been disappointing, with classic objective tumour response rates rarely exceeding 15%. Paradoxically, findings from emerging research indicate that dendritic cell-based vaccination might improve survival, advocating implementation of alternative endpoints to assess the true clinical potency of dendritic cell-based vaccination. We review the clinical effectiveness of dendritic cell-based vaccine therapy in melanoma, prostate cancer, malignant glioma, and renal cell carcinoma, and summarise the most important lessons from almost two decades of clinical studies of dendritic cell-based immunotherapy in these malignant disorders. We also address how the specialty is evolving, and which new therapeutic concepts are being translated into clinical trials to leverage the clinical effectiveness of dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Specifically, we discuss two main trends: the implementation of the next-generation dendritic cell vaccines that have improved immunogenicity, and the emerging paradigm of combination of dendritic cell vaccination with other cancer therapies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium; Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Tumor Immunology Group (TIGR), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: sebastien.anguille@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anguille
authors.affiliation: Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium; Center for Oncological Research, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Evelien L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Tumor Immunology Group (TIGR), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lion
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Tumor Immunology Group (TIGR), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Viggo F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: van Tendeloo
authors.affiliation: Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium; Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Tumor Immunology Group (TIGR), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Zwi N
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Berneman
mesh_terms: D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D047368:Tumor Burden; D014611:Vaccination