Clinical Regression and Remission of Primary Refractory Angiocentric Lymphoma Following Autologous Tumour Peptide Antigen-charged Dendritic Cells After High-dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Stem Cell Rescue

Abstract

We report on the case of a 34-year old man with a previously refractory high-grade non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma which regressed following dendritic cell based immunotherapy after high-dose chemotherapy. Antigen presenting cells known as dendritic cells were cultured from harvested autologous peripheral blood progenitor cells. The dendritic cells were then exposed to unfractionated tumour peptides derived from a skin biopsy section inflitrated with lymphoma. These charged dendritic cells infused into the patient together with autologous T-lymphocytes after high-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell rescue. Although the lymphoma relapsed after the high-dose chemotherapy it regressed again following the dendritic cell infusion. The patient's T-lymphocytes demonstrated in vitro reactivity to tumour peptides whereas the lymphocytes of controls did not. We propose that the lymphoma regression occurred because of a T cell mediated response against the tumour induced by the charged dendritic cells.

Keywords:

• DC-dendritic cells
• GM-CSF-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor
• angiocentric T-cell lymphoma
• high-dose chemotherapy
• T-lymphocytes
• IL-2-interleukin-2
• immunotherapy