title: Dendritic Cell Therapy in an Allogeneic-Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Setting: An Effective Strategy toward Better Disease Control?
abstract: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a last treatment resort and only potentially curative treatment option for several hematological malignancies resistant to chemotherapy. The induction of profound immune regulation after allogeneic HCT is imperative to prevent graft-versus-host reactions and, at the same time, allow protective immune responses against pathogens and against tumor cells. Dendritic cells (DCs) are highly specialized antigen-presenting cells that are essential in regulating this balance and are of major interest as a tool to modulate immune responses in the complex and challenging phase of immune reconstitution early after allo-HCT. This review focuses on the use of DC vaccination to prevent cancer relapses early after allo-HCT. It describes the role of host and donor-DCs, various vaccination strategies, different DC subsets, antigen loading, DC maturation/activation, and injection sites and dose. At last, clinical trials using DC vaccination post-allo-HCT and the future perspectives of DC vaccination in combination with other cancer immunotherapies are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht - Dendritic cells AgaiNst CancEr (U-DANCE), Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht , Utrecht , Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plantinga
authors.affiliation: Utrecht - Dendritic cells AgaiNst CancEr (U-DANCE), Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht , Utrecht , Netherlands.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Haar
authors.affiliation: Utrecht - Dendritic cells AgaiNst CancEr (U-DANCE), Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht , Utrecht , Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nierkens
authors.affiliation: Utrecht - Dendritic cells AgaiNst CancEr (U-DANCE), Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht , Utrecht , Netherlands ; Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Department of Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht , Utrecht , Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jaap Jan
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Boelens
keywords: DC-vaccination; T-cell responses; disease control; hematopoietic cell transplantation; relapse