The therapeutic use of dendritic cells transfected with tumour RNA

Abstract

Recently, it was shown that dendritic cells (DCs) transfected with ribonucleic acid (RNA) coding for a tumour-associated antigen (TAA) or whole tumour RNA are able to induce potent antigen and tumour-specific T cell responses directed against multiple epitopes. The feasibility and efficacy of this approach was tested and analysed in different settings by administration of RNA-transfected DCs in patients with cancer or infectious diseases. In some cases, clinical responses were observed, but the overall effectiveness of this approach has to be demonstrated in further clinical trials.

Keywords::

• dendritic cells
• immunotherapy
• RNA