autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumour homogenate

Autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumour homogenate is a personalized cancer immunotherapy classified as an advanced therapy medicinal product. The process involves isolating dendritic cells from the patient’s own blood, maturing them ex vivo, and loading them with a homogenate or lysate derived from the patient’s own tumor tissue. These antigen-loaded dendritic cells are then re-administered to the patient as a therapeutic vaccine. The goal is to stimulate a robust anti-tumor immune response by presenting a broad array of tumor-associated antigens—including unique neoantigens—to T lymphocytes, thereby promoting cytotoxic T cell activation and infiltration into tumors[1][2][7]. This approach has been studied in several cancers including melanoma and glioblastoma, showing clinical benefit in subsets of patients who develop strong immune responses after vaccination[1][3][7]. The therapy is generally well tolerated and can be combined with standard treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy[3][4].

Other names

autologous dendritic cell vaccine loaded with autologous tumor homogenateDCvax (when referring to this approach generically)dendritic cell vaccine loaded with autologous tumor lysate