Dendritic cell vaccine strategies for renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines are an important experimental immunotherapy for renal cell carcinomas. DC vaccines have proven safe, but only minimal clinical efficacy has been observed to date. DC vaccine strategies reflect the continually evolving understanding of DC biology. The use of mature DCs is particularly important to avoid the induction of regulatory T cells. Better defined sources of immunizing antigens and more efficient antigen-loading will contribute to DC vaccines of better quality. Improved clinical efficacy may also be achieved using DCs that secrete biologically active IL-12, which fosters innate immunity and polarizes T helper type 1 responses that contribute to optimal antitumor immunity. Furthermore, combination therapies that treat systemic immune suppression will be crucial for obtaining improved clinical responses to DC vaccines in patients with advanced disease.

Keywords::

• adaptive immunity
• cancer vaccines
• clinical studies
• DC–tumor cell hybrids
• dendritic cells
• IL-12
• immature DCs
• innate immunity
• mature DCs
• renal cell carcinoma
• Toll-like receptors

Acknowledgements

The authors thank A Buchner, C Falk, B Frankenberger, C Geiger, M Javorovic, E Noessner, H Pohla and A Zobywalski for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by the German Research Council (SFB455), the 6th EU Framework Programme (Allostem: LSHB-CT-2004-503319), and the GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health Clinical Cooperation Group ‘Immune Monitoring’.

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