Understanding dendritic cell immunotherapy in ovarian cancer

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Approximately eighty percent of patients with ovarian cancer are diagnosed with advanced disease. Even with cutting edge surgical techniques and the best regimens of standard therapies most patients relapse and die of drug resistant disease within five years of diagnosis. Dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy can induce anti-tumor T cell immunity in patients and holds great potential in the era of modern anti-cancer treatment.

Areas Covered: This review outlines critical factors regulating the outcome of DC immunotherapy in ovarian cancer, summarizes the important findings in ovarian cancer DC clinical trials, and discusses new directions which may improve the effectiveness of DC immunotherapy.

Expert Commentary: Administration of DC vaccines with other forms of immunotherapy may enhance the efficacy of these treatments, ultimately increasing cures for this disease.

KEYWORDS:

• Dendritic cells
• ovarian cancer
• immunotherapy
• immune suppression
• suppressor macrophages
• tumor antigens
• clinical outcome

Declaration of interests

The authors were supported by funds from the Perritt Charitable Foundation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.