title: Dendritic-tumor fusion cells in cancer immunotherapy.
abstract: A promising area of clinical investigation is the use of cancer immunotherapy to treat cancer patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) operate as professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and play a critical role in the induction of antitumor immune responses. Thus, DC-based cancer immunotherapy represents a powerful strategy. One DC-based cancer immunotherapy strategy that has been investigated is the administration of fusion cells generated with DCs and whole tumor cells (DC-tumor fusion cells). The DC-tumor fusion cells can process a broad array of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), including unidentified molecules, and present them through major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II pathways in the context of co-stimulatory signals. Improving the therapeutic efficacy of DC-tumor fusion cell-based cancer immunotherapy requires increased immunogenicity of DCs and whole tumor cells. We discuss the potential ability of DC-tumor fusion cells to activate antigen-specific T cells and strategies to improve the immunogenicity of DC-tumor fusion cells as anticancer vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takakura
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kajihara
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Zensho
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine; and Institute of Clinical Medicine and Research; The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkusa
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine; and Institute of Clinical Medicine and Research; The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koido
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002459:Cell Fusion; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2 / Q000737:chemistry; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; C495342:TLR2 protein, human; C495345:TLR4 protein, human; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4; D000431:Ethanol