tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine (NCI)

This personalized autologous dendritic cell vaccine was developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors, specifically metastatic Ewing sarcoma and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The therapy involves harvesting a patient's own dendritic cells and loading them ex vivo with synthetic peptides that represent the unique chromosomal translocation breakpoints characteristic of these tumors. For Ewing sarcoma, the vaccine typically targets the EWS-FLI1 or EWS-ERG fusion proteins, while for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, it targets PAX3-FOXO1 (PAX3-FKHR) or PAX7-FOXO1 (PAX7-FKHR). These pulsed dendritic cells are re-infused into the patient to act as professional antigen-presenting cells, priming and expanding tumor-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. In clinical trial contexts, this vaccine has been evaluated following autologous T-cell transplantation and in combination with the protease inhibitor indinavir to enhance the anti-tumor immune response.

Other names

peptide-pulsed dendritic cell vaccineautologous dendritic cell vaccine (NCI)tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine-National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Ewing sarcoma-alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma