Overview Of Dendritic Cell Vaccines For Brain Tumors

Additionally in the presence of a tumor there can be significant blood brain barrier breakdown as well as tumor infiltrating dendritic cells macrophages and b and t lymphocytes.

Overview of dendritic cell vaccines for brain tumors. Dc vaccine has been introduced as a new therapeutic strategy in cancer patients. Brain tumors are a diverse group of biologically and pathologically distinct intracranial neoplasms that include tumors of neuroepithelial tissue gliomas meningeal tumors and primary lymphomas of the central nervous system non gliomas see buckner et al 2007 for review. Gliomas typically arise from two different cell types in the brain astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. That being said once inside the cns the action of the immune system and the potential for antitumor response is markedly different from other sites in the body.

4 clinical trials underway have demonstrated the successful application of dc vaccines to induce antitumor. This new vaccine approach focuses on dendritic cells which brody calls the generals of the immune system s army. Dc based immunotherapy is safe and can promote antitumor immune responses and prolonged survival of cancer patients. However this treatment fails to show clinical benefit in many patients.

Dendritic cells dcs are powerful antigen presenting cells for the induction of antigen specific t cell response. It s made with tissue from each participant s brain tumor. This is combined with dendritic immune cells from the person s blood. Tumor induced t cell exhaustion may be reversed through immune checkpoint blockade icb.

The vaccine is called dcvax l. Dendritic cells guide the response of t cells to fight off invaders.