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Review
. 2017 Oct;5(19):386.
doi: 10.21037/atm.2017.06.13.

Dendritic cell therapy in melanoma

Affiliations
Review

Dendritic cell therapy in melanoma

Carmen Alvarez-Dominguez et al. Ann Transl Med. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines are cancer vaccines used currently as melanoma therapies. They act as adjuvants initiating the immune responses, but not only as they can also have effector activities redirecting cytotoxic CD8+ T cells against melanoma. Ex vivo preparation of monocyte derived DCs has been implemented to produce large numbers of DCs for clinical therapy, highlighting the necessity of activate DC s to produce Th1 cytokines, especially TNF-a and IL-12 with potent anti-tumour actions. Several clinical trials both in the European Union and USA are open currently using DC vaccines, alone or in combination with other immunotherapies. The type of antigen is also an active area of investigation involving tumour antigens and bacterial epitopes, both providing good responses. Bacterial epitopes presented the advantage versus tumour antigens that they can prepare the vaccination site as they induce innate and specific immune responses as they are potent recall antigens that expand cytotoxic responses.

Keywords: Dendritic cells (DCs); Listeria; melanoma; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Activation of T cells by dendritic cells. The figure describes the three signals required to activate T cells and the molecules involved (positive signals), as well as the negative signals downregulating the system.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Preparation of monocyte derived dendritic cells (MoDC) for therapies and differentiation between mature and activated dendritic cells: markers and cytokines. The figure describes briefly the procedure to produce MoDC and the markers and cytokines that differentiate mature and activated MoDC or DC, in general.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sites of action of dendritic cell vaccines against melanoma. The figure shows real melanoma cells and the two sites of action of dendritic cell vaccines in the activation of the immune response, at the priming stage also known as adjuvant effect and at the effector stage also called immunostimulation. The figure also shows the negative signals involved in both stages.

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