Therapeutic tumour vaccination with dendritic cells is designed to help the patient´s immune system to detect and destroy tumour cells. It is helpful and feasible at any stage of the disease. The earlier it is applied the better the chance of success, particularly in view of the prevention of relapse. Dendritic cell vaccination after complete tumour removal (“R0-resection”) is considered optimal. Vaccination provokes an effective immune response against tumour antigen and yields memory cells that maintain long lasting reactivity.

In May 2010 the first vaccination with dendritic cells against prostate cancer (Provenge) has been approved in the USA after studies had shown a marked improvement of survival and quality of life. Also, the fact that immunologist Ralph Steinman has been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine 2011 for the discovery of Dendritic cells proves the importnace of immunologic cancer treatment.

Nevertheless, immunotherapy has not yet entered into clinical routine but hitherto results are very encouraging. Positive effects were found in the majority of studies. Most importantly, tumour vaccination does not have any adverse effects.

Conclusion: vaccination with dendritic cells against cancer is a safe and well-tolerated complementary treatment option in modern cancer therapy.