natural dendritic cell vaccine

The natural dendritic cell vaccine (nDC vaccine) is an autologous, cell-based biologic immunotherapy developed by Radboud University Medical Center. It is composed of naturally circulating blood-derived dendritic cell subsets—specifically CD1c+ conventional (myeloid) dendritic cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells—that are isolated from the patient and pulsed (loaded) with synthetic tumor-associated peptides. Unlike traditional dendritic cell vaccines that typically utilize monocyte-derived dendritic cells generated in vitro, this approach employs 'natural' DC subsets directly from the blood to more closely mimic physiological immune responses. Administered via intranodal injection, the vaccine is designed to activate tumor-specific T cell responses against melanoma antigens. It was primarily investigated in the Phase III MIND-DC trial (NCT02993315) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected stage IIIB/IIIC cutaneous melanoma, although the study did not demonstrate a significant improvement in recurrence-free survival.

Other names

autologous CD1c+ myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell vaccinenatural DC vaccine