The history, evolution, and clinical use of dendritic cell-based immunization strategies in the therapy of brain tumors

PMID: 12952297
Journal: Journal of neuro-oncology (volume: 64, issue: 1-2, J. Neurooncol. 2003 Aug-Sep;64(1-2):161-76)
Published: 2003-08-01

Authors:
Fecci PE, Mitchell DA, Archer GE, Morse MA, Lyerly HK, Bigner DD, Sampson JH

ABSTRACT

Despite advancements in therapeutic regimens, the prognosis remains poor for patients with malignant gliomas. Specificity has been an elusive goal for current modalities, but immunotherapy has emerged as a potential means of designing more tumor-specific treatments. Dendritic cells (DC) are the specialized antigen presenting cells of the immune system and have served now as a platform for therapeutic immunizations against such cancers as lymphoma, multiple myeloma, melanoma, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, colon cancer, and even malignant gliomas. DC-based immunizations offer a number of advantages over traditional immunotherapeutic approaches to brain tumors, approaches that have proved promising despite concerns over central nervous system immune privilege and glioma-mediated immunosuppression. The future success of clinical trials will depend on the optimization and standardizing of procedures for DC generation, loading, and administration.