[Frontiers in Bioscience 15, 321-347, January 1, 2010]

Dendritic cells as therapeutic agents against cancer

Erika A. Eksioglu1, Sarah Eisen2, Vijay Reddy3

1Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Florida ,2Department of Surgery, University of South Florida, 3 Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, Florida

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. DC Immunobiology
4. Dendritic Cell Subpopulations
5. The type1/ type 2 dualism and cancer
6. Generation of DC for Therapy
7. Consideration of DC Maturation Stages in vaccine design
8. Methods to improve DC potency
9. Cancer-specific targeted therapy with DC
10. Post-therapy monitoring of DC efficacy
11. Future of DC immunotherapy: Defining success versus failure
12. Conclusions
13. Acknowledgement
14. References

1. ABSTRACT

Dendritic cells (DC) are antigen-presenting cells whose immunobiology has been proven to be central to the function of the immune system. Further understanding of these cells is leading the way to the manipulation of the immune system as a tool to cure and prevent a vast array of diseases including cancers. These cells have been used in trials as vaccine adjuvants in therapies that aim to break the body's tolerance to the tumor. From the first 1000 DC vaccinees in 2003 there has been a breadth of information on safety that is paving the way to the study of the efficiency of these therapies. This review aims to explore recent updates to the current literature on DC vaccine therapies in clinical trials and analyze their future. At this crossroads is where intricacies of the technique are being revised to explore the most efficient and effective parameters for the enhancement of DC adjuvant therapies.